Raipur, Dec 2 (PTI)Congress legislator and tribal leader Manoj Singh Mandavi was on Monday unanimously elected as the deputy speaker of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly.

Assembly speaker Charandas Mahant announced Mandavis election as his deputy in the House.

Earlier, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel moved the proposal to elect Mandavi, a former minister, as the deputy speaker of the assembly.

The proposal was supported by Home Minister Tamrdhwaj Sahu.

Subsequently, eight more proposals in support of Mandavis election were moved by BJP legislature party leader Dharamlal Kaushik, Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) MLA Dharamjeet Singh and BSP MLA Keshav Chandra and others.

Mandavi (55), the MLA from Bhanupratappur in Kanker district, is a prominent tribal leader from the Bastar region.

He had served as a cabinet minister in the Ajit Jogi- led Congress government in the state (2000-03).

Extending him greetings, Baghel said Mandavi had begun his political career from student politics and was then elected as an MLA three-times.

His election as the deputy speaker is a matter of pride, he added.

Baghel also thanked opposition parties BJP, the JCC (J) and the BSP for unanimous election of Mandavi.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)