Speaker: Opp barks knowing it can’t bite

But this time while for the record Joshi’s will be an unanimous election, barring the NDA and the Telugu Desam Party, the other sections of the House have virtually not endorsed his candidature by not proposing his name.

A dozen nominations were filed on behalf of Joshi today but going against tradition, no Opposition party backed his candidature on record. In fact, the Left parties openly slammed the government’s choice for the Speaker’s post with the CPI declaring that it had dissociated itself from the election.

The CPI(M), whose leader in Parliament Somnath Chatterjee had according to government sources indicated that the party was not averse to Joshi’s candidature, was severe in its criticism. ‘‘At a time when the country is seriously concerned over the ongoing pogrom against minorities in Gujarat, the choice of the Speaker from the Shiv Sena will send disturbing signals and will adversely affect the image of Parliament,’’ the CPI(M) said.

The CPI was equally condemnatory of the government’s choice when it dubbed the Shiv Sena as a ‘‘rabid communal party.’’

Government managers let it be known that none of the Opposition leaders including Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi consulted had objected to any name on the five-member panel including that of Joshi. But today when the Opposition parties were approached, they conveyed their unwillingness to append their signatures to the nominations filed on Joshi’s behalf.

Sources in the Opposition however said that the government had led them up the garden path by including Joshi in the panel of names while at the same time giving out the impression that either Petroleum Minister Ram Naik or Tourism Minister Jagmohan would be the ultimate choice.

While they argued that there was no ‘‘effective consultation’’ on the Speaker’s election, government sources countered that consultation did not mean that only a name preferred by the Opposition should be agreed upon.

Government sources said that Joshi’s place in the ministry would in all probability go to the Shiv Sena’s parliamentary party leader Anant Geethe. Another Shiv Sena minister Suresh Prabhu would hold additional charge of Joshi’s Heavy Industry portfolio till Geethe is inducted into the ministry.

Joshi’s appointment could turn out to be an embarrassment for TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N.Chandrababu Naidu who arrives on a two-day visit to Delhi, his first in five months.

Chandrababu Naidu who rejected the NDA’s offer of Speakership to his party may have to do a lot of explaining over his parliamentary party leader K Yerran Naidu’s seconding the nomination filed on Joshi’s behalf by George Fernandes since it does not match the TDP’s gradual process of distancing itself from the BJP and its saffron consorts like the Shiv Sena.