Economic Times, June 26, 2024
Synopsis
The Opposition stand comes in the wake of it planning to pull out its three representatives, earlier named by the government to assist the protem Speaker in administering oath to the newly elected members of the Lok Sabha, as a protest against the ruling side overlooking seniormost MP Kodikunnil Suresh (Congress) for the post.
Any effort to reach a consensus on a new Lok Sabha Speaker will depend on the BJP-led NDA agreeing to allot the post of Deputy Speaker to a representative of the India bloc, Opposition sources said. They are maintaining that the onus to avert a contest, and thus a bitter beginning for the new Lok Sabha, is entirely on the government leadership adhering to consensus-building on these two posts. Rarely has a Speaker been elected without a consensus.
The Opposition stand comes in the wake of it planning to pull out its three representatives, earlier named by the government to assist the protem Speaker in administering oath to the newly elected members of the Lok Sabha, as a protest against the ruling side overlooking seniormost MP Kodikunnil Suresh (Congress) for the post.
Suresh is widely seen as the prospective Deputy Speaker’s choice of the India bloc, given that he is an 8-term MP from the Dalit community. But, if the government refuses to ink a pact with the Opposition on the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, then Suresh, among a few others, may be considered to be the Indian bloc’s candidate for the Speaker’s post. The floor leaders of Congress and INDIA bloc will meet soon to firm up their strategies.
Congress’ Jairam Ramesh, meanwhile, rubbed in with a counter question to the government for claiming that BJP’s Bhartruhari Mahtab was chosen as protem Speaker since he has the longest consecutive term (7) unlike Suresh, whose eight terms have two breaks in between. “If this argument is adopted, then why has Ramesh Jigajinagi, a BJP MP who is also in his 7th consecutive term, not been considered? Is it because he is a Dalit like Suresh?”
While the first Modi government of 2014-19 chose to give the post to ‘friendly’ Opposition party AIADMK, the second Modi government (2019-24) choose to leave the Deputy Speaker post unallotted.
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