The Attorney-General (AG) on Friday told lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahjan that the Congress was not eligible to be granted the status of leader of Opposition (loP) in the lower House.
Mahajan sought his opinion in view of the dilemma she is facing over the issue even as the Congress has been pressing for the loP status despite being reduced to only 44 seats. In the 543-member lok Sabha, the Congress has emerged as the second largest party after BJP’s 282, but fell short by 11 seats to stake claim for the loP, for which it requires the strength of 55.
According to sources, Rohtagi has said that the Congress is not eligible as it does not have the required 10 per cent (55 seats) in the 543-member lok Sabha. To back his opinion, the AG has said there is no precedence where a party was given the loP position — which is equivalent to the status of a Cabinet Minister — without meeting the criteria of 10 per cent seats since the days of the first lok Sabha when GV Mavlankar was the Speaker during the regime of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Reacting to the development, the Congress, which has recently upped the ante over the issue, hoped that the Speaker will “not be misguided” by the opinion of the AG. “Attorney-General represents the Government’s opinion. He articulates the Government’s viewpoint. The Government has nothing to do with it (loP issue). It is the domain of the Speaker. We will react after the ruling of the Speaker,” Congress General Secretary Shakeel Ahmed.
The lok Sabha Secretariat officials however refused to make any comment, saying a decision in the matter was yet to be taken. Mahajan, who has been facing the tough situation on taking a call on the tricky issue, has said that she would consult legal and constitutional experts besides experienced persons in firming up a decision.
Rohtagi mentioned that even during the time of Rajiv Gandhi, the Congress with over 400 seats had refused to grant the loP status to TDP, the then second largest party, for the same reason.
The AG is also learnt to have rejected the contention that loP status could be given to the leader of Congress-led UPA coalition as there is no such precedence. The UPA has 60 members in the House. Earlier in the day, former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad asked lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to be “neutral” and allow the “voice of dissent” inside Parliament. Azad termed it as “most unfortunate” that Congress has not been given loP status in the lok Sabha.
Azad, who is the leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said the Narendra Modi Government should be “generous” in this regard especially at a time when selection process of Central Vigilance Commissioner has started.
“In a democracy, the voice of dissent is very important. If the voice of dissent is not heard inside the Parliament then it does not qualify to be real democracy. There is democracy outside, there should be democracy inside Parliament too,” Azad said on the sidelines of a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Azad said that there is no Act which says that a party needs to get 10 per cent of seats to get loP. “There is a 1979 Act of Parliament which says that loP should be given (to single largest party),” he said.
As per Direction 121 of the ‘Directions of the Speaker’, the Speaker should ensure that a Parliamentary party or group should have at least one-tenth of the total number of members of the lok Sabha for being eligible for getting the loP post.