lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan here on Thursday said that the decision on the post of leader of the Opposition in the lower House would be made before Budget session of the House.
Regarding speculations that Congress might demand the post of leader of the Opposition, Mahajan clarified that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has not written to her in this connection.
She said that she is working on it and soon final decision would be taken in this regard. She informed that she is going through former Speaker PG Mavalankar’s theory and 10 per cent members’ formula.
She hinted at organizing a special training session for 300 Members of Parliament who have been elected to the lok Sabha for the first time. Talking to media persons at Indore Press Club, Mahajan said of all 300 first time MPs, though some of them might have served their constituencies as MlAs, majority of them are new. Under the circumstances, it is important that they have proper knowledge of Parliamentary proceedings so that they can raise issues of their constituencies in the Parliament effectively. Keeping this in mind, they will be duly informed about the functioning of the Parliament.
Mahajan said in the training, all the new MPs will also be given proper guidance on conducting of polls, question hours and other related issues in the Parliament so that proceedings of the Parliament could be run smoothly.
Sumitra said as a Speaker she would see to it that MPs engage themselves in a healthy debate on important issues and make use of high class library of the lok Sabha to enrich their knowledge on various issues. She said as per provisions of Indian Constitution, the lok Sabha Speaker has important responsibilities and she would make every possible efforts to ensure that there is no violation of laws by MPs during the parliamentary session.
Talking about expansion of railway facilities in the region, Sumitra said she had already discussed the issue of expansion of railway facilities in Indore and adjoining regions and in all likelihood, Indore will get new facilities in the next rail budget. This includes extension of Bhopal-Bareli train up to Indore, extension of Indore-Nagpur train.
Replying to a question, Mahajan said irrespective of the fact she will have to stay in Delhi, development of Indore will continue unabated and she would try to establish a coordination in this regard at the local level.