The Government is not averse to according the status of leader of Opposition (loP) to the Congress and its pre-poll allies “if they collectively” come forward to seek the post.
While the Government has not received any formal letter from the Congress for granting it the loP post, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, for the first time on Monday, strongly pitched for it saying “we are the single largest party”. According to sources, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has indicated that the Congress and its allies could get the post if a joint request to the effect is formally sent. The Government otherwise does not see the Congress fulfilling the criteria to claim the status of loP.
If the move is made by the Congress and allies, they would lose their individual status as leader of their respective parties, sources said. Naidu said the decision on the loP would be made according to the parliamentary rules with the Speaker having the last say on the issue. The matter did not crop up during the breakfast meeting on Monday that the Government had with the Opposition parties ahead of the Budget Session, he added. With no clarity emerging on the loP issue, UPA MPs announced that they will write to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan seeking an immediate decision on it.
Party spokesman Anand Sharma said that the Congress would exercise all options to ensure a “democratically correct and logical conclusion” to the issue and did not rule out the possibility of approaching courts in the matter.“There is no doubt about that... No ruling of the Speaker can substitute or override an Act of Parliament. Anybody saying so lacks elementary understanding of the law and the statute,” Sharma said when asked whether the Speaker was acting at the behest of BJP.
Sharma’s remarks came at the AICC briefing on the first day of the Budget Session of Parliament after Sonia Gandhi sought to stake her party’s claim to the post. “We are the single largest party. We have got a pre-poll alliance. Hence, we are entitled to leader of Opposition’s post,” Gandhi, who is also CPP chairperson, said in her first comments on the issue. She, however, said the party has not decided yet whether to approach the judiciary in the matter.
Sonia rejected the ruling party’s allegation that the Congress was desperate for the post and has not accepted defeat. “That is not true. We have lost the elections. We are aware of that,” Sonia said.Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath dubbed as “lame excuse” the BJP’s position that the issue was with the lok Sabha Speaker. “Today politics is different. Parliamentary practices are different. Speaker’s directions have been changed over years and merely because of the Speaker’s direction what they (BJP) are citing is not an adequate reason for not giving the loP post to Congress,” Nath said talking to reporters outside Parliament House.
Sharma said that the letter is ready and will be sent to the Speaker after all UPA MPs had signed it. “Government’s intention is not correct. The thinking is undemocratic. Government is trying to subvert the appointments of lokpal, CVC and other key posts by denying the loP status to Congress. We will not allow that to happen. We will take all the steps in Parliament and agitate on whatever forum is available. But let the reply of the Speaker come first,” he added.
Sharma’s remarks on the Speaker’s role in the matter came a day after senior party leader Kamal Nath charged that the Mahajan’s decision regarding the leader of Opposition’s post could be “flavoured” by BJP.