With its numerical strength in lok Sabha reduced to a mere 44 members, the Congress on Thursday pitched for a leader of Opposition (loP) status on the grounds that it has secured more percentage votes share in 2014 General Elections when compared to BJP’s 18.8 per cent in 2009.
While sources said that the Congress has written to the newly-elected Speaker Sumitra Mahajan seeking her reply on the status of loP, the party said it will be “undemocratic” if the ruling party ignores this. The party, which got a drubbing in the lok Sabha, is of the view that the main Opposition party needed to be given the loP status to be on the panel to consider appointments like Central Vigilance Commissioner, head of the National Human Rights Commission and the lokpal.
“If in the appointment of lokpal, they ignore the Congress, which has secured more than 19 per cent votes in this lok Sabha polls, one per cent more than what the BJP had got in last election, it would not only be unfortunate but also undemocratic,” AICC Communication Department Chairman Ajay Maken said.
Maken was replying to a question as to what it would do now as the Government may not even consult the Congress in the appointment of lokpal as the party does not have the numbers to claim the loP to be included in the panel.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi last week announced the candidature of senior leader and former Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge to lead the party in the lower House besides presuming that he would also be nominated as the loP of the lok Sabha.
Maken, however, remained ambivalent on whether or not the Congress president has written a letter to lok Sabha Speaker seeking loP post for Kharge. “I am not confirming the letter thing,” Maken said. Other top leaders also feigned ignorance about it while sources in the lok Sabha Secretariat said that they are not in receipt of any such letter.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu steered clear of questions on the issue of loP status to the Congress saying the matter is with the Speaker. “The matter is with the Speaker. I do not want to say anything about it,” he said. Naidu had earlier taken a jibe on the Congress saying that people have not chosen any party for the position of leader of the Opposition in the lok Sabha.