Maharashtra Legislative Council chairman’s son-in-law becomes Assembly Speaker

Mumbai: Maharashtra on Sunday became the only state in the country where the presiding officers of the Legislature are in-laws.

BJP MLA Rahul Narvekar has become the new Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly. His father-in-law Ramraje Naik of NCP is the chairperson of the Legislative Council.

Narvekar (45) is also the youngest ever Assembly Speaker in the country, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

The legislator from Mumbai’s Colaba Assembly constituency has been associated with the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party in the past.

Narvekar, whose brother Makarand is a corporator from Colaba, was a spokesperson of the youth wing of Shiv Sena in its early years. He quit that party and joined NCP in 2014.

He had then claimed that the inaccessibility of party top brass (read Uddhav Thackeray) prompted him to quit the Sena.

Narvekar contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Maval, losing to Shrirang Appa Barne of the Shiv Sena.

He joined the BJP before the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls from Colaba. He won the Colaba Assembly seat, defeating Congress’ Ashok Jagtap.