NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said he advised his allies in the INDIA bloc that the Lok Sabha Speaker should be elected unopposed, but the Opposition must get the deputy Speaker's post which has been a parliamentary convention.
Traditionally, the Speaker's post went to the ruling party and the deputy Speaker's post to the Opposition, but this did not happen in the last ten years of the Narendra Modi government, the veteran leader told reporters here.
"In Parliament, non-BJP leaders sought my opinion and I advised them to tell the government that we agree to hold the Speaker's election unopposed.
"Simultaneously, the deputy Speaker's post must go to the Opposition," the former Union minister added.
The BJP-led NDA fielded Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for the crucial parliamentary position again, but its bid for consensus was thwarted by the Opposition which forced an election by nominating Kodikunnil Suresh as its candidate.
The opposition's last-minute decision to go for the rare contest came after senior BJP leaders did not agree to its precondition that the INDIA bloc must be offered the post of Deputy Speaker in return for supporting Birla.
