TMC cold, INDIA bloc may not press for division in Speaker vote

At the meeting, which was attended by TMC MPs Derek O’Brien and Kalyan Banerjee, a consensus was also reached among INDIA bloc constituents for better coordination on such issues. Separately, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had a 20-minute-long telephonic conversation with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.

However, till late Tuesday, the TMC had not made its stand on backing the INDIA candidate clear, with sources saying the party will take a decision only by 9.30 am Wednesday. The selection of the Speaker is scheduled for Wednesday.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary K C Venugopal were present at the meeting, along with representatives of other alliance parties,

Earlier Tuesday, after the NDA renominated Om Birla, who was the Speaker in the 17th Lok Sabha, for the post, INDIA announced it was putting up eight-time Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh. The Congress had earlier pushed for Suresh to be named pro-term Speaker, on the grounds that he was the senior-most MP in the Lok Sabha.

After Suresh filed his nomination papers, just before the deadline ended, TMC leaders suggested that the party had not been consulted on the issue. The Congress denied this, saying it had called the TMC before making the move.

Taking a dig at senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, a senior TMC leader said: “We won 29 seats on our own in West Bengal… we were not a part of the INDIA alliance then. So, Rahul Gandhi shouldn’t have made a khata khat announcement, without consulting us. We are not here to toe the line after you have made a decision.”

Sources said the TMC felt that a contest for the Speaker’s post would expose the Opposition’s inadequate numbers and the chinks in the INDIA armour.

The NDA, too, is learnt to have reached out to Mamata. Sources said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called Mamata on Tuesday afternoon. “The two spoke about the issue of the Speaker and about the Opposition fielding a candidate against the BJP’s nominee,” a TMC leader said.

On Congress claims that a call had been made to the TMC leadership before the announcement, the leader said it came around 11.50 am – 10 minutes before the filing of nomination for the Speaker’s post was to end. “It is too short a notice. If you wish to invite me for your daughter’s wedding, you can’t be calling me on the morning of the wedding,” the leader said.

TMC leaders in West Bengal slammed the “unilateral decision” by the Congress and said Mamata was “upset”. Sources close to the CM said she was taken by “surprise”, and that she had expected the Opposition parties to discuss “suitable names”.

Other alliance partners could have come up with candidates too, and on the basis of the discussions, a name should have been finalised, a party leader said.

In the afternoon Tuesday, TMC national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee held a meeting of all party parliamentarians at Parliament House where the Speaker issue was discussed, with the final decision left to Mamata.

In the Lok Sabha, where the oath-taking of the newly elected MPs continued, Rahul personally reached out to Abhishek. After inviting the TMC leader to his seat, Rahul was engaged in a chat with him lasting 15 minutes, where he was seen animatedly explaining something to Abhishek, who appeared to nod in return without saying much.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav intercepted to have a word with Abhishek as he left for his desk.

The NDA has 293 MPs, including the BJP’s 240, in the Lok Sabha, while the INDIA (counting the TMC) has 231, along with support of the Bharat Adivasi Party, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party and three Independents.

Apart from this, there are 13 Independents or non-aligned parties. The YSRCP, which was trounced in the recent simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, is expected to back the BJP on the Speaker issue.