New Delhi:
The election for the post of Speaker – a rare event in the history of the Lok Sabha – will take place today, with a recharged Opposition forcing a contest. The numbers, though, appear to give the government an advantage.

Here are the top 10 updates on this big story

New Delhi:

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerje’s Trinamool Congress has remained the shaky spot in the united Opposition front over the election of the Speaker. The party, which started the day with the complaint that they were not consulted about fielding a candidate, ended it by expressing its disapproval of the Congress decision and keeping the alliance on tenterhooks over its support to K Suresh.

At a meeting of the INDIA bloc at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s house on Tuesday evening, Trinamool expressed its reservation about the decision to go for a contest, sources said. On whether it would support K Suresh against the BJP candidate Om Birla, the party said they would convey their decision by 9 am today.

Sources said the party had argued that some of their members could not take oath and some Opposition MPs are in jail. So a contest at this point will only put then NDA strength on display.

The Congress’s eleventh-hour snap decision to field Mr Suresh and force a contest, had got it on the wrong side of Trinamool, which called the move “unilateral”.

Several hours and explanations later, the party thawed and attended the Opposition meet — only to express its reservations.

Ahead of the meeting, Congress’s Rahul Gandhi had spoken to Trinamool’s second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee and Mr Suresh had called the party to seek support.

The Congress said there was no time for consultation as they had decided to field a candidate just 10 minutes before the deadline. The part was irked by the BJP refusal to give the Opposition the post of the Deputy Speaker, or admit their claim to it.

This morning, the government, while seeking consensus for Om Birla, made it clear that they were not considering a Deputy Speaker post for now.

Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, who has accepted the responsibility of being the Leader of the Opposition, said, “Rajnath Singh called Mallikarjun Kharge and asked him to extend support… entire Opposition said we will support but convention is Deputy Speaker should be from our side. Rajnath Singh said he would call back… but he has not yet…PM is asking for cooperation but our leader is getting insulted.”

The Trinamool — which never had the best of relations with the Congress — had put its membership from the INDIA bloc on hold in the run-up to the polls after a dispute over seat sharing in Bengal.

After the election, they came back to the fold and today was the first day after the results, when unease crept into the alliance.

It was not Trinamool alone. Sources said after the meeting that alliance leaders had underscored that they were not informed about Sonia Gandhi’s decision to appoint her son Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of the Opposition.

The Congress-led INDIA opposition bloc on Tuesday nominated Kodikunnil Suresh, an eight-time MP from Kerala, for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker, triggering an election for the top parliamentary post for the first time since 1946.

Mr Suresh’s nomination underlines the tense stand-off between the INDIA group and the ruling coalition led by the BJP, which had approached the opposition – Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju were so tasked – to build consensus to re-appoint Kota MP Om Birla as the Speaker.

The INDIA bloc said it was willing to back Mr Birla, but required the deputy’s post to be allotted to a member of the opposition, in keeping with parliamentary tradition.

However, there was no response from the BJP till 11.50 am – 10 minutes before the deadline for filing papers – following which news broke that the opposition would nominate Mr Suresh.

Sources said the BJP indicated a decision on the Deputy Speaker’s post would be taken at a later stage, and once again called on the opposition to support Mr Birla.

The stand-off between the new BJP-led coalition and the opposition comes 24 hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined the need for consensus to run the government and the country

New Delhi:

The BJP and the Congress have gone to the mattresses, again.

This time the two are fighting over the appointment of BJP leader and seven-time MP Bhartruhari Mahtab as Pro Tem Speaker, a post active only for the first days of a new Parliament. The Pro Tem leader usually administers the oath to new MPs and conducts the election for a full-time Speaker.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to announce the new Speaker’s name on Wednesday, two days after the first sitting of the newly elected 18th Lok Sabha. Once the Speaker is elected – by a simple majority, meaning the BJP’s pick is unlikely to fail – the Pro Tem’s post ceases to exist.

The Congress – which was expecting Kodikunnil Suresh, a Dalit leader and an eight-time MP from Kerala, to be named Pro Tem – has criticised the BJP over the appointment of Mr Mahtab. Senior leader KC Venugopal called it “an attempt to destroy democratic and parliamentary norms…”

READ | BJP’s Bhartruhari Mahtab Is Pro Tem Speaker, Congress Says “Mistake”

“Government should explain why it chose to overlook K Suresh… what was the factor that disqualified him? Are there deeper issues… perhaps beyond just seniority,” he asked.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju hit back Friday, stating “I have to say it with great regret… I feel ashamed that the Congress talks like this. I was hoping that this Lok Sabha session would start with a good mood… and that we can have a productive and co-operative parliament meet.”

“But what I have been seeing since yesterday, especially the issue that Congress has created regarding Pro Tem Speaker… Congress is doing so many wrong things it is trying to mislead people.”

“Congress said we violated the rules while appointing Pro Tem Speaker. I want to tell you… whatever steps were taken to were done according to the rules…Congress should not do politics…”

#WATCH | On BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab appointed pro tem Speaker of 18th Lok Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju says, “…I have to say it with great regret that I feel ashamed that the Congress party talks like this. First of all, they created an issue about the… pic.twitter.com/iKwodsMRg3

— ANI (@ANI) June 21, 2024

Mr Rijiju said tradition dictates the longest continuously-serving MP is appointed as Pro Tem, and that the choice is Bhartruhari Mahtab, who won Cuttack from 1998 to 2019 as part of ex-Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD before jumping to the BJP this year to win a seventh consecutive term.

Sources told NDTV Mr Mahtab is also being considered for the full-time post.

READ | Speaker Name On June 26, Odisha, Andhra Leaders On List: Sources

Meanwhile, Mr Suresh and four others – the DMK’s TR Baalu, the Trinamool’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay, and the BJP’s Radha Mohan Singh and Faggan Kulaste – have been appointed to assist Mr Mahtab.

Mr Rijiju told press the selection of a Pro Tem Speaker is based on the ‘father of the House’ concept from the British parliament, in which the longest continuously-serving MP is given the title.

It was in line with that custom that Mr Mahtab was chosen as Pro Tem, Mr Rijiju said as he also criticised the Congress for deriding the Odisha MP, who is one of the senior-most members.

There were, however, exceptions in 1956 and 1977, news agency PTI said. In ’56 Sardar Hukam Singh was named Pro Tem followed by DN Tiwari in ’77. Neither were then the senior-most members.

Responding to the Congress’ fierce attacks, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also acknowledged Mr Suresh as an eight-time MP but pointed to breaks in 1998 and 2004. “So it is not consecutive,” he said. Mr Mahtab, he underlined, had won Cuttack seven consecutive times.

READ | Who Will Be Lok Sabha Speaker? Big Question As Modi 3.0 Begins

Mr Rijiju also hit back at Mr Suresh’s claims that the appointment of the Odisha MP showed the BJP “will continue to bypass parliamentary procedure…” The Congress leader was referring to the election of Virendra Kumar Khatik in 2019; Mr Khatik then was a seven-time consecutive MP with wins from Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar between 1996 and 2004, and in Tikamgarh from 2009 to 2019.

In the 17th Lok Sabha there was also the BJP’s Maneka Gandhi, then an eight-time MP but with one break; she won Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit in 1989 (with the Janata Dal) and then lost in 1991 to the BJP’s Parashuram, before claiming seven straight Lok Sabha wins between 1996 and 2019.

Mr Rijiju pointed out Mrs Gandhi was not Pro Tem in 2019 due to the break.

Earlier the Congress’ Mr Suresh claimed Mrs Gandhi had, in fact, been offered the post but turned it down as she had not been made a Union Minister.

“The senior-most MPs then were myself and Khatik, who was chosen. This time too, we are senior-most. He was made a cabinet minister and therefore, automatically, as per Lok Sabha rules, I should have been made Pro Tem,” he said.

“My name was recommended but when the government sent recommendations to President Droupadi Murmu… my name was avoided,” he claimed.

READ | Lok Sabha Speaker’s Election Expected On June 26

The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha will begin June 24, with the new MPs taking oath.

With input from agencies

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