The INDIA bloc decided to field its candidate for the Speaker’s post on Tuesday after the government and the Opposition could not reach consensus on the issue, signalling more possible confrontations in the 18th Lok Sabha. Congress leader K Suresh would take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Om Birla, a former Speaker, for the crucial position in the Lower House that convened a day ago amidst protests and a renewed war of words between the warring sides that faced off in a bitter election campaign earlier this year.
The twists and turns of the day came after an outreach effort by the government and a meeting of top leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There were initial signals that the government and the Opposition could reach middle ground on the Speaker’s and the Deputy Speaker’s posts. But those did not last long. Sources indicated that the government sought the Opposition’s support for its Speaker candidate, Birla. In return, the Opposition demanded assurance that they be given the Deputy Speaker’s berth. The government was not on board with the proposal for conditional support, a minister said.
“They said, ‘First decide the name for Deputy Speaker, then we will support the [government] Speaker candidate’. We condemn such politics. A good tradition would have been to choose the Speaker unanimously. The Speaker does not belong to any party or Opposition; he belongs to the entire House. Similarly, the Deputy Speaker too does not belong to any party or group; he belongs to the entire House. Hence, there should be consent of the House,” Union Minister and BJP parliamentarian Piyush Goyal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
After filing his nomination, Congress MP Suresh said: “There is a convention in Lok Sabha that the Speaker will be from the ruling party and the Deputy Speaker will be from the Opposition…Deputy Speaker is our right. But they are not ready to give it to us. Till 11:50 am, we were waiting for a response from the government, but they did not give any response. That is why we filed the nomination.”
The deadlock culminated in yet another confrontation between the two sides despite multiple meetings. Union defence minister Rajnath Singh was tasked with reaching out to the Opposition to build consensus on the Speaker post, and — according to sources, he held talks with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Stalin and Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, among others.
Kharge asserted that the Deputy Speaker should be from the Opposition benches, sources suggested. In an indication of things to come and the rift beteween the two sides, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told the media on Tuesday morning: “Today it is written in the newspaper that PM Modi has said that the Opposition should cooperate with the government constructively. Rajnath Singh called Mallikarjun Kharge, and he asked him to extend support to the Speaker. The entire Opposition said that 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…PM Modi is asking for cooperation from Opposition but our leader is getting insulted…”
Gandhi was referring to PM Modi’s message to the Opposition ahead of the beginning of the session on Monday; he had appealed to the Opposition to play a constructive role and stressed that the country needed substance, not slogans.
Several meetings, even on Tuesday, between defence minister Singh and the Opposition bloc failed to break the ice. In the end, key NDA allies and top BJP leaders such as home minister Amit Shah and health minister JP Nadda accompanied Birla for his nomination filing, even as the INDIA bloc suggested it would reach out to non-aligned parties for support to its candidate. The election would be held on June 26 (Wednesday).
Before the start of the session, a massive political row had erupted over the appointment of BJP leader and seven-time member Bhartruhari Mahtab as the pro-tem speaker. The move drew flak from the Opposition, which alleged that the ruling regime was “anti-Dalit” as it overlooked the claim of eight-time Congress member K Suresh to the post. The government denied the charge, saying it followed the tradition and Mahtab was an MP for seven consecutive times — and Suresh was not.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the BJP alone won 240 of the 543 seats, 32 short of majority. The NDA won 293 seats, scripting a historic third term for PM Modi. The INDIA bloc bagged 234 seats and the Congress 99, claiming “moral victory” after beating exit poll estimates and improving on their 2019 tally.
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