Shaktisinh Gohil elected as CLP leader

Ahmedabad, Jan 17 (UNI) Former minister Shaktisinh Gohil has been elected Leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the Gujarat Assembly.

Congress sources said a meeting was held yesterday in the presence of AICC general secretary B K Hariprasad to choose the CLP leader. There was consensus on Mr Gohil's name and the same was suggested to Party president Sonia Gandhi who, later, formally announced Mr Gohil's name to lead the party in the Gujarat Assembly.

Earlier in the day, Gujarat Governor Nawal Kishor Sharma administered the oath to Daulatrai Nathubhai Desai as Pro-tem Speaker. The newly-elected members of the assembly were also administered the oath today.

Meanwhile, the ruling BJP is learnt to have finalised the name of former Health and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ashok Bhatt, who has won for the eighth consecutive term from Khadia constituency, for the Speaker's post.

In the 182-member House, the BJP has 117 MLAs, Congress 59, Nationalist Congress party (NCP) three legislators, JD (U) one and independents two.

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