New Delhi. The government and the opposition could not reach a consensus on Tuesday for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker and now the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate and BJP MP Om Birla will face Congress’ Kodikunnil Suresh. Voting for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s election will be held on Wednesday. Birla and Suresh filed their nomination papers on Tuesday as candidates of the NDA and the opposition alliance ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’ (‘India’) respectively.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee said that his party was not contacted regarding the candidature of K. Suresh for the Lok Sabha Speaker. Banerjee said that unfortunately this is a unilateral decision. However, the party has said whether to support the opposition candidate or not? The final decision on this will be taken by party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. When Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was asked a question regarding Abhishek Banerjee’s statement, he said ‘Jai Samvidhaan’ and moved ahead.
Birla, who was also the Speaker in the last Lok Sabha, has been made the unanimous candidate of the NDA. If he wins the voting held on Wednesday, he will be the first person to hold this post again in 25 years. Janata Dal (United) leader and Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh told reporters that Birla’s name was decided unanimously by all the parties of the NDA and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh also reached out to the opposition to get support.
Birla has reached the Lok Sabha by winning the election from Kota for the third consecutive time
Birla met Prime Minister Narendra Modi before filing his nomination. He has been elected member on a BJP ticket for the third consecutive time from Kota, Rajasthan. Targeting the opposition, Lallan Singh said that he wants an immediate decision on the post of Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha, while Rajnath Singh had requested that when the time for selection comes, everyone should sit together and discuss the issue. Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that it would have been better if there was consensus on the name of the candidate for the Lok Sabha Speaker. He also criticized the opposition for placing conditions in this regard. He said that democracy cannot be run on conditions.
After no consensus was reached, the opposition coalition ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’ (INDIA) made Congress leader Suresh its candidate for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker and he filed his nomination on Tuesday. Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader N K Premachandran said that Suresh has filed his nomination. Congress organization general secretary K C Venugopal and DMK leader TR Balu came out of Defense Minister Rajnath Singh’s office, refusing to support the NDA candidate for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker. Venugopal alleged that the government did not commit to give the post of Deputy Speaker to the opposition.
Rahul Gandhi accused of insulting Congress leader
Earlier, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that there has been a tradition of giving the post of Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker to the opposition and if the Narendra Modi government follows this tradition, then the entire opposition will support the government in the election of the Speaker of the House. Talking to reporters in the Parliament House complex, he also said that Defense Minister Rajnath Singh had called Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge for support and had talked about calling again, but his call has not come till now. Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Prime Minister expects constructive cooperation from the opposition, but the Congress leader is being insulted.
“It’s not a question of winning or losing”
Suresh, who has reached the Lok Sabha for the eighth time from Kerala, said that this is not a matter of winning or losing, but it is a matter of tradition that the Lok Sabha Speaker will be from the ruling party and the Deputy Speaker will be from the opposition. He told reporters, “In the last two Lok Sabhas, they did not give us the Deputy Speaker’s post and said that you have not been recognized as the opposition. Now that we have been recognized as the opposition, we have the right to the Deputy Speaker’s post. But they are not ready to give us this post. We waited for the government’s response till 11.50 am today, but they did not give any answer.”
Tags: BJP, Congress, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Narendra Modi, Om Birla, Rahul Gandhi
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 25, 2024, 18:18 IST