India set to get first woman Lok Sabha speaker

India is set to get its first woman Lok Sabha speaker with the Congress zeroing in on Water Resources Minister Meira Kumar, daughter of former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram. Congress sources said party president Sonia Gandhi decided to pick Meira Kumar, a Dalit and five-time MP. The other names in the running were tribal leader from Andhra Pradesh V. Kishore Chandra Deo and Rajasthan's Girija Vyas. Meira Kumar met the Congress chief this afternoon. A formal announcement by the Congress is likely later. Meira Kumar had on Friday taken charge as the minister for water resources in the new Manmohan Singh government. She won from Sasaram in Bihar.