BJP nominated Karia Munda as Lok Sabha Dupty Speaker

Karia Munda, BJP's tribal leader from Jharkhand, was named by the party as its candidate for the post of Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha. "The Parliamentary Board decided to name six-time party MP in the Lok Sabha Karia Munda as the candidate for the post," BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley told reporters at New Delhi today. 72-year-old Munda was a minister in the Morarji Desai government and later in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministry. He was earlier an MLA in Bihar and later in Jharkhand. When asked whether Munda's candidature was done with the aim of winning tribal support for the party, Jaitley said, "It is true that Munda belongs to the ST community, but along with that he has a vast legislative experience and this decision was made considering his seniority."
BJP was earlier planning to field veteran BJP leader and MP from Indore Sumitra Mahajan but gave up the idea when Congress nominated Kumar. Congress had offered Deputy Speakership to the BJP last Saturday in keeping with the convention that the position has been held by the opposition. Munda later said his nomination would send a "good message" among the tribals because the community has got honour. He, however, denied that his party played the tribal card by selecting him for the post. Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and BJP MP Arjun Munda hailed Karia Munda's nomination saying it will send a very positive signal in the tribal state.