The Narendra Modi government is not going to give the Congress the post of the Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha. The Congress was earlier exploring the possibility of a quid pro quo with NDA, to avoid a contest to the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman’s post and have a consensus Opposition nominee as Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker. The Congress had also sent a letter to the Speaker of Lok Sabha suggesting this proposal. But in a setback to the grand old party, the government has not paid any attention to its proposal.
The letter had advertised Congress’ interest in the Deputy Speaker’s post by recalling how the post was traditionally given to the Opposition. The post of LS Dy Speaker is lying vacant for the last one and a half year.
Meanwhile, NDA candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh is filing nomination for the post of Deputy Chairman in Rajya Sabha. His victory is a foregone conclusion, given the arithmetic tilting towards the ruling alliance. The nomination process will be complete on Friday. RJD MP in RS Manoj Jha will be filing nomination as UPA candidate against Singh. The election to the post will be held on 14 September.
With Congress supporting Jha, it is clear that the Congress will be contesting the Bihar polls in alliance with RJD. Congress also wants to use this opportunity to unite Opposition parties to join hands with it in cornering the government in Lok Sabha during monsoon session. With this objective in mind, the Congress leadership was also trying to put up a DMK or TMC candidate for the post of Dy Chairman in Rajya Sabha. But Congress’ attempt to unite the opposition parties has come a cropper. The hope of TMC backing Congress attack on the Modi government got dimmed with Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a staunch anti-Mamata leader, having been appointed PCC chief in West Bengal. Now all eyes are set on which way Mamata’s outfit goes in election for Rajya Sabha Dy Chairman post.
After the Rajya Sabha set into motion the process for the election of the Deputy Chairman, the Congress made its political move for Dy Speaker post in Lok Sabha. Congress is aware that the NDA allies have not shown any interest in the post of Deputy Speaker when the government offered it to them. Nobody looked interested, whether it was Jagan’s party YSRCP or BJD. There is only one MP from AIADMK in Lok Sabha. Last time, AIADMK’s ThambiDurai was made Deputy Speaker.
But this time round he could not win the polls. One of Akali Dal’s two MPs is minister in the cabinet. Shiv Sena is no longer in NDA. Now, it is a challenging task for the Modi government to choose a candidate for Deputy Speaker post in Lok Sabha. The post is vacant for a long time, but it doesn’t affect the work in the House. Congress says that the constitutional post cannot be left vacant. The BJP had done away with the tradition of giving this post to opposition from 2014. Congress had also done the same in its rule. Atal Bihari Vajpayee had given this post to the Opposition and then Congress also maintained this tradition after 2004.