Lok Sabha is in for election for the post of Speaker for the first time since 1952 as the Opposition on Tuesday backtracked on their initial consensus to BJP-led NDA government's candidate Om Birla and nominated Congress leader K Suresh for the top Parliamentary post.
Despite reaching a consensus initially over the NDA's Lok Sabha Speaker candidate Om Birla, Congress leader K C Venugopal later said that the Opposition would contest the speaker's election. Accusing the govt of being non-committal on giving the Deputy speaker's post to the Opposition, Venugopal and DMK's TR Baalu walked out of Rajnath Singh's office today.
The Congress had already made it clear that the Deputy Speaker should be from the Opposition benches. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge has said that while the Oppositions wants consensus too, healthy traditions must be followed.
Furthermore, Rahul Gandhi also said, "We have said to Rajnath Singh that we will support their Speaker (candidate) but the convention is that the post of Deputy Speaker to be given to opposition..."
The government today fielded Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to build consensus on the choices for the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker post.
It has been reported that the fielded BJP leaders interacted with top Opposition leaders including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, DMK leader MK Stalin and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to build consensus over this matter.
The deadline to file nomination for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker is 12 pm today and an election, if any, will be held tomorrow. All Speakers so far have been elected unanimously and an election, if it happens, will be a first.
