In the latest twist, for the first time the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post will witness an election after the BJP-led NDA and Congress-led INDI alliance failed to reach a consensus.
The NDA picked BJP MP Om Birla as its nominee, while the opposition fielded veteran Congress leader K Suresh. The contest for the Lok Sabha speaker post will take place at 11 AM on Wednesday. Both the candidates, Om Birla and K Suresh have filed their nomination papers for the Speaker post.
The government and the opposition appeared to have reached a consensus on the Speaker post as the Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a telephonic conversation with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
The Congress chief agreed to support the government’s pick for the Speaker post, however, demanded that the Deputy Speaker should be made from the Opposition alliance.
The consensus collapsed after the government was ‘non-committal’ on giving the Deputy Speaker post to the opposition.
‘Mallikarjun Kharge is a senior leader and I respect him. I have had a conversation with him thrice since yesterday’, said Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh after consensus failed between the NDA and INDI alliance on the Lok Sabha speaker post.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said, ‘We had a conversation with all the floor leaders of the opposition regarding the post of the speaker. The Speaker is not for a party, it is for the functioning of the House. The Speaker is elected unanimously. It is disheartening that Congress has nominated its candidate for the Speaker. Congress put this condition that if they get the post of Deputy Speaker they will support our candidate for the Speaker’s post. This give and take of posts of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker is not right’.
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