Prominent INDIA bloc leaders including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and SP president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday accused the BJP-led NDA government of violating the convention by not giving the post of Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha to the Opposition, forcing them to field candidate for the Speaker’s post, while Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stated that give and take of posts was not right.
However later, Congress MP K Suresh filed his nomination for the post of Speaker as INDIA bloc’s nominee.
Talking to reporters, Rahul Gandhi informed that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge received a call from Defence Minister Rajanth Singh on Monday seeking support from the INDIA bloc for the BJP-led NDA candidate for the Speaker’s post.
“We spoke to everyone, the entire Opposition has said that we will support. But the convention is that the Opposition should get the Deputy Speaker post,” he said.
The Congress MP said the Defence Minister was informed about this by Kharge and he told he will call him back but he did not.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, “Prime Minister says there should be cooperation and everyone should work together. He does not want any constructive cooperation, because the convention is that the Deputy Speaker should be from the Opposition. If the convention is followed then we will give our support for the post of Speaker.”
Referring to the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, he said, “We had given during the time of UPA.”
Echoing similar sentiments, the SP chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yadav said the only demand was that the Deputy Speaker post be given to the Opposition.
“The demand was that the Deputy Speaker should be from the Opposition. The opinion of our party is that the Deputy Speaker post should be from the Opposition,” he said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju said this give and take of post of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker was not right.
He also termed the filing of nomination from the Opposition for the post of Speaker as ‘unfortunate’ and added that it should be elected unopposed with consensus.