bow Ram Ashish Yadav, the newly appointed Speaker of the Madhes Pradesh Assembly, took office on Monday. Taking office at the state assembly office in Janakpurdham, he said that he is not a representative of any party and will play a fair role as a common guardian of the entire state assembly.

Speaker Yadav also said that dialogue and cooperation between political parties will be promoted. "Disagreement is natural. However, cooperation is inevitable", he said. He said that he will move ahead in coordination with all parties for the welfare of the province. He mentioned that issues of inclusion of Madhes, good governance, access to education and health, job creation and the challenges of border areas will be taken up with priority in the parliamentary agenda.

Pointing out the need for the provincial assembly to maintain effective supervision over the executive, he expressed the opinion that the parliament should be empowered in matters of budget implementation, transparency of public expenditure and improvement in the quality of service delivery. Speaker Yadav has also expressed his commitment to run the Provincial Assembly in an efficient, responsible and dignified manner according to democratic values.