CP Joshi elected speaker of Rajasthan assembly; steps down as RCA president

Jaipur: Senior Congress leader was elected the speaker of 15^th Rajasthan assembly. Joshi stepped down as Rajasthan Cricket Academy (RCA) president before the election for the speaker took place on Wednesday.

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot said that CP Joshi is a senior politician and the assembly will benefit from his experience. The chief minister congratulated Joshi and said that his ties with the assembly had been long and it was for this reason that there was no opposition when his name was proposed for the speaker’s post.

CP Joshi was Rajasthan Cricket Academy (RCA) president. He stepped down as RCA president because the assembly speaker is a constitutional post.

According to the amended constitution of RCA, a government employee or officer and someone who is aged more than 70 years can not hold any post in RCA. The amendment had been introduced by the CP Joshi group. Since CP Joshi is now part of the legislative assembly, he may be disqualified for holding a post in RCA.

The amendment had been brought in to prevent Lalit Modi from influencing politics at the RCA.

CP Joshi had not been given a cabinet birth. It is speculated that he was appointed Congress candidate for the post of assembly speaker to placate a section of senior Congress leaders in Rajasthan who were not happy when CP Joshi was sidelined.