Speaker’s post to see rare contest as Opposition seeks Deputy Speaker, govt stalls

While the NDA has renominated BJP MP Om Birla, who was the Speaker in the 17th Lok Sabha, for the post, INDIA has fielded eight-time Congress MP Kodilkunnil Suresh. The election for the post is scheduled for Wednesday.

With the numbers on the NDA’s side, Birla is expected to win. However, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi having spoken of “consensus” just the day before, sources said the BJP hopes to avoid a contest. If not, it expects to “expose” the Opposition’s numbers, including the “cracks within its ranks”.

INDIA found itself fighting such a crisis when the Trinamool Congress Tuesday did not sign on Suresh’s nomination papers, with its leaders claiming that the party had not been “consulted” before the Congress MP’s name was decided.

The Congress is trying to bring the TMC around, as well as ensure it has the backing of other INDIA parties as well as three Independents. Altogether, it puts its strength at 231, including the TMC.

The BJP-led NDA, which has 293 MPs in an effective House of 542, is also in talks with leaders of like-minded parties such as the four-member YSRCP and the Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur, sources said.

On Wednesday, before Parliament meets, NDA MPs will hold a “breakfast meeting” where the voting process will be explained to them.

Even as it prepared for a contest, the BJP is still reaching out to the Opposition to break the logjam, senior ministers in the government said. However, they added that while the issue of Deputy Speaker could be discussed, the Congress should not “dictate” terms regarding this. Setting a condition that it will support the NDA’s Speaker candidate only if the Deputy Speaker post is given to the Opposition was unacceptable, ministers said.

On Monday night, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh first spoke to Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and several other leaders of the Opposition in a bid for consensus on Birla’s name. According to Congress sources, Kharge raised the issue of Deputy Speaker during his conversation with Rajnath, and was told the matter could be discussed on Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday, senior Congress leader K C Venugopal and veteran DMK leader T R Baalu met Rajnath in the presence of senior ministers Amit Shah, J P Nadda, Piyush Goyal and Rajiv Ranjan alias Lallan Singh on Tuesday.

A senior Congress leader said that instead of a discussion or commitment on Deputy Speaker, “the ruling party, just a few minutes before the deadline for filing of nominations for Speaker’s post (on Tuesday noon), asked the Congress and other Opposition parties to sign the nomination papers for Birla”. “They said the matter can be discussed later. We refused to accept it.”

The Treasury benches had a different version.

Sources on the government side said they had made it clear to Opposition leaders that the first priority was to elect the Speaker. “On Tuesday morning, Rajnath wanted to speak to Kharge, but he was ‘busy’. Kharge said Venugopal will speak to him. But when we spoke to Venugopal and Baalu… the old mindset that we will dictate the terms… they showed the same mindset. They set a condition that who will be the Deputy Speaker should be decided first… then they would extend support for the Speaker’s post,” Goyal told reporters.

His Cabinet colleague Lallan Singh said: “Venugopal saab ka kahna tha ki aap upadhyaksh ka pad aap abhi, isi samay usko sweekar karen (Venguopal sir wanted that we commit to a Deputy Speaker right then and there). The Defence Minister told him that we will certainly sit and talk at the time of election of the Deputy Speaker. But he (Venugopal) stuck to his condition… They want to do politics of pressure. That doesn’t work in a democracy.”

In the first half of Tuesday, after a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Birla filed his nomination papers in the presence of senior ministers and NDA leaders. Minutes later, three sets of nominations were filed for Suresh.

Emerging from Parliament as the government and Opposition debated the matter, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the Opposition was willing to support the NDA’s candidate for Speaker provided the government followed convention and gave the Deputy Speaker’s post to them. “The entire Opposition, we have spoken to everyone, has said that we will support (the NDA candidate) but the convention is that the Deputy Speaker is given to the Opposition.”

Modi’s actions do not match his words, Rahul said. “Modiji talks about constructive cooperation. And then they insult our leader… Narendra Modi says something and does something else.”

Another blow to ties

The strained government and Opposition ties will take another hit in case of election to the Speaker’s post. Only thrice has voting taken place for the post – 1952, 1967 and 1976. Twice, in 1991 and 1998, the Opposition’s resolution in favour of its candidates was negated by a voice vote.