The Lok Sabha Speaker’s post will see an election after talks between the ruling BJP-led NDA and the opposition broke down even though both sides reached a consensus initially. While the NDA has picked BJP MP Om Birla as its candidate, the Opposition has decided to field veteran Congress leader K Suresh.
The election for the post of Speaker will take place at 11 am on Wednesday.
However, it won’t be an easy task for the INDIA bloc as they would need 271 votes, half of 542 (Wayanad seat vacant), to win the election. As far as the numbers stand, the NDA has 293 members in the Lok Sabha while the INDIA block has 233.
Also, there are seven MPs who are yet to take oath in Lok Sabha, including five from the INDIA bloc. According to sources, they will be sworn in after the Speaker’s election.
Consequently, these seven MPs will not be able to vote in the Lok Sabha Speaker election.
Moreover, sources told that the YSRCP, which is not a part of any alliance, has decided to back Om Biral in the Speaker’s election.
NO CONSENSUS REACHED
The government and the opposition appeared to have reached a consensus initially. However, talks broke down after the government was non-committal on giving the Deputy Speaker’s post to the opposition, sources said.
The government had deployed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to build a consensus on the Lok Sabha Speaker candidate.
During the meeting at Rajnath Singh’s office, Congress’s KC Venugopal sought immediate assurance of the Deputy Speaker post for the opposition in return for getting Om Birla re-elected unopposed. However, this was not acceptable as the BJP-led NDA did not want any conditional support.
BJP leaders present at the meeting said discussions on the Deputy Speaker’s post would take place later and the opposition would be consulted. However, KC Venugopal was adamant and talks collapsed.
“I don’t know whether we will win or lose… but we will fight. The opposition had the right to get the Deputy Speaker post but they did not give it,” K Suresh said after filing his nomination.
TMC MIFFED ON NOT BEING CONSULTED
All NDA partners have signed the nomination papers of Om Birla. On the other hand, all major INDIA bloc members have signed the nomination papers of K Suresh except TMC.
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee said the party was not consulted before fielding K Suresh for the Speaker’s post and called it a unilateral decision.
Om Birla had won the Kota Lok Sabha seat by a margin of more than 41,000 votes in the general elections.
Suresh, who won his eighth Lok Sabha election from Mavelikkara in the recent polls, had previously served as a Union Minister in the second UPA government.
The Opposition had previously demanded Suresh’s appointment as Pro-tem Speaker on the basis of seniority, but the government named Bhartruhari Mahtab for the post.
DEPUTY SPEAKER’S POST BECOMES BONE OF CONTENTION
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said party president Mallikarjun Kharge had received a call from Rajnath Singh to extend support to the NDA’s candidate.
The Raebareli MP said, as per convention, the post of Deputy Speaker should be given to the opposition.
“Rajnath Singh called Mallikarjun Kharge, and he asked him to extend support to the Speaker. The entire Opposition said we would support the Speaker, but the convention is that the Deputy Speaker post should be given to the opposition. Rajnath Singh said that he would call back Mallikarjun Kharge, but he has not done that yet,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Speaking on the issue, BJP MP Piyush Goyal said the Speaker should have been chosen unanimously as per tradition.
“In the morning, Rajnath Singh wanted to discuss the issue with Mallikarjun Kharge, but he was busy, so he said that KC Venugopal would talk to you. But after speaking with TR Baalu and KC Venugopal, the old mentality that we would dictate terms was shown again,” Goyal said.
“They (the opposition) said first decide the name for Deputy Speaker, then we will support the Speaker candidate. We condemn such politics. The Speaker does not belong to any party or opposition, he belongs to the entire House,” Goyal further said.
FIRST DAY OF PARLIAMENT BEGINS ON STORMY NOTE
The consensus on the Speaker’s post comes following a bitter stand-off between the government and the Opposition over the appointment of pro tem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab.
On Monday, opposition leaders refused to be a part of the panel to assist the pro tem Speaker. The opposition, led by the Congress, accused the government of deviating from tradition in not appointing the senior-most member of the Lok Sabha for the temporary post.
The first day of the 18th Lok Sabha began on a stormy note, with a war of words between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mallikarjun Kharge over the imposition of Emergency in 1975 dominating the session.
As 262 MPs, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took oath, the opposition staged a protest inside Parliament complex. The INDIA bloc MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, were seen raising slogans of “save democracy” and displaying copies of the Constitution.
