© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The TMC is likely to support the candidature of Kodikunil Suresh for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker during the election on Wednesday, sources close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told The Indian Express.
Sources said the decision was taken after a late-night discussion between Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee. This conversation, sources said, took place following a meeting held by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with INDIA bloc members.
“The ice was finally broken late at night. The Congress admitted that TMC should have been consulted properly. Even we could have suggested some names. All is well now. We have decided to support the Congress candidate,” a source close to Mamata Banerjee said.
On Tuesday, the Trinamool Congress kept the INDIA bloc on tenterhooks over supporting its candidate for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post, claiming it had not been “consulted”. A series of meetings and conversations between leaders of the two parties took place throughout the day over this.
The INDIA bloc meeting held by Kharge also suggested that the Opposition would not push for voting on the Speaker’s election as it did not have the numbers. However, the Trinamool agreeing to support the Congress candidate gives the INDIA bloc a much-needed boost given that even the NDA has been in touch with the Mamata-led party through Tuesday to garner support for Om Birla.
At the meeting, 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, Rahul Gandhi had a 20-minute-long conversation over the phone with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.
However, till late Tuesday, the TMC had not made its stand on backing the INDIA candidate clear. Earlier on Tuesday, after the NDA renominated Om Birla, who was the Speaker in the 17th Lok Sabha, for the post, the INDIA bloc announced it was nominating eight-time Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh against Birla. 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 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.
In the afternoon on 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.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav intercepted to have a word with Abhishek as he left for his desk.
The National Democratic Alliance has 293 MPs, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s 240, in the Lok Sabha, and the INDIA (counting the TMC) has 231, along with the 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.
