- Wednesday, July 03, 2024
While the ruling National Democratic Alliance of PM Modi’s BJP has backed previous post-holder Om Birla, the opposition INDIA alliance has supported K Suresh of the Congress party.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S parliamentary democracy was set to witness the election of the speaker of the new Lok Sabha or the Lower House of the parliament as the ruling and opposition alliances failed to reach a consensus over the speaker, the presiding officer of the House who plays a key role in its day-to-day businesses.
While the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) picked Om Birla, the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) backed veteran leader of its biggest party — the Indian National Congress — K Suresh.
Birla, who is a three-time MP from Kota in the north-western state of Rajasthan, was the speaker of the previous Lok Sabha (2019-24).
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The government had asked defence minister Rajnath Singh and parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, both from the BJP, to build a consensus on the speaker candidate after the opposition alliance said it was weighing its options.
India Today cited sources as saying previously that the post of the deputy speaker, which has been lying vacant since 2019, could go to the opposition if a consensus was reached on the speaker candidate. The last person to serve as the deputy speaker was M Thambidurai of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a former ally of the BJP from the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
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Rahul Gandhi, an MP of the Congress party, said his party’s president Mallikarjun Kharge had got a call from Singh to back the NDA’s candidate. According to the former, the opposition should get the post of the deputy speaker as per convention and they had told Singh about it.
“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,” Gandhi said, according to the India Today report.
The procedure to arrive at a consensus on the speaker’s post comes after a bitter stand-off between the government and opposition over the appointment of Bhartruhari Mahtab, a BJP MP who switched from Biju Janata Dal in the eastern state of Odisha earlier this year, as the pro tem speaker.
The inaugural day of the new Lok Sabha on Monday (24) witnessed stormy moments as the opposition leaders disagreed to become a part of the panel to assist the pro tem speaker. The Congress, the second-largest party in the House after the BJP, slammed the government saying it was deviating from the convention of appointing the senior-most member of the Lok Sabha for the temporary position.
According to the Congress, the government ignored some other senior leaders and picked Mahtab because of their Dalit caste identities. The BJP hit back saying a leader like K Suresh, who the Congress backed for the post, did not have an interrupted run as a parliamentarian and counter-accused the opposition party of disrupting the convention.
While Suresh is an MP for eight times, his run was interrupted by defeats in 1998 and 2004 elections. Mahtab, on the other hand, has been elected for a consecutive seven times since 1998.
(With agencies)
