New Delhi, Sunday 31 May 2009: Meira Kumar, who was sworn in as a Cabinet minister after UPA’s decisive victory in the Lok Sabha elections, on Sunday appeared to be a clear frontrunner to claim the post of Speaker in the 15th Lok Sabha.

The indication came as Meira Kumar met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence on Sunday, a day after it became clear that after installing Pratibha Patil as the country’s first woman President during it first five-year term, the Congress-led UPA was all set to give Lok Sabha its first woman Speaker.

Apart from Meira Kumar, the name of Girja Vyas was also doing the rounds for the coveted post yesterday.

Discussions about fielding a woman for the post dominated a meeting of the top leadership of Congress, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, which came two days ahead of the first session of the 15th Lok Sabha.

Besides Gandhi and Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Defence Minister AK Antony attended the meeting of the Congress Core Group at the Prime Minister’s residence.

The party initially appeared to be planning to field Kishore Chandra Deo, a senior Congress MP from Andhra Pradesh, for the post but later put his name on the back burner.

The Congress leadership is also reported to have decided to offer the post of Deputy Speaker to the Opposition BJP-led NDA as per convention.