At last, speaker election on June 29

PUDUCHERRY: After vacillating on the issue of election of the speaker and earning criticism from all quarters, Chief Minister N Rangasamy finally decided to put his house in order. The speaker election would be held on June 29, he said here, on Sunday.In a hurriedly convened press conference, he told reporters that the nominations for the speaker election could be filed before the secretary till Tuesday  (June 28) noon. He said the notification was to be issued by the Assembly secretary and added that the speaker election would be held on the floor of the Assembly.When questioned about the All India Namathu Rajyam Congress (AINRC) candidate to be fielded for the election, he said that the candidate’s name would be revealed on the day of filing nominations. He expressed confidence that his party candidate would become the speakerRangasamy, who met Lieutenant Governor Dr Iqbal Singh on Sunday, while answering a question, said  a notification on the allocation of portfolios to the newly inducted four ministers would be issued after the election of the speaker.In the week gone by, the AINRC chief had met Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi and home minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi. A meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also on the cards, he said. He also reiterated that his meeting with Sonia Gandhi had been a courtesy call. He had urged the Centre to write off Rs 4,040 crore that the state government owed to the Centre as a one-time measure, he said.Reacting to the criticism on the law and order situation by the union minister of state for parliamentary affairs V Narayanasamy, he said that all steps had been taken to ensure proper maintenance of law and order in the UT.