By IANS,
New Delhi : Meira Kumar, who is set to take over as India’s first woman Lok Sabha speaker, Monday expertly dodged persistent queries from waiting media persons, saying with a smile: “Wait till June 3” – the day of election for the post.
Meira Kumar, 64, quit as cabinet minister for water resources Sunday.
When cornered by media persons outside parliament and asked if she had resigned, a beaming Meira Kumar said: “Yes, I have resigned.”
When asked the reason, she said after a pause, “Because I have been nominated for the post of speaker”, smiling broadly.
Probed further, the former Indian Foreign Service official grinned, saying, “Yeh sub teen taarikh ke baad (all this after June 3)”, and walked away.
The speaker’s election is slated for June 3. Meira Kumar, the daughter of former deputy prime minister late Jagjivan Ram, is most likely to be the consensus candidate.
A five-time MP and Dalit leader from Bihar, she was sworn in as the water resources minister May 22. She quit the post after the Congress core committee decided that she would be speaker.