For the first time in many decades, no member of the Left parties will be seated in the front row of the Lok Sabha: down to a historic low of 11, and with no senior MP, the Left’s voice will be heard far less on the floor of the House.
Ahead of the winter session of Parliament, and six months into the new government, the Lok Sabha Secretariat finally allotted the division numbers for the MPs of the 16th Lok Sabha, distributing the 20 front seats, according to the relative strengths of the parties/blocs.
Of course, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh have made it to the front row on the basis of their status/seniority even though their parties do not merit the VIP billing.
Somnath Chatterjee, 10-time LS MP, CPI(M) floor leader from 1989 to 2004, and Lok Sabha Speaker from 2004 to 2009 (later expelled from the party), lamented the “diminution” of the Left parties, reflected in their falling numbers. Within the House, he stressed, it not only meant loss of a front row seat but, more importantly, “the time allotted to its members to speak will shrink,” as that, too, hinges on numbers. “Speaking for myself,” Mr. Chatterjee said, “this is a sad day for the country. There will be fewer people speaking for the poor as communal forces grow, and the rich and the corporates find more support.”
Even in the first Lok Sabha, the Left parties had won 16 seats: after that, their strength in the Lower House has varied between 23 (2009) and 58 (2004).
Another party that has not got a front row seat this time is the Nationalist Congress Party – not only is Sharad Pawar no longer an LS MP, but the party has only six MPs.
The BJP, on the strength of its numbers, could have got 14 front row seats – it has taken 9, giving three to its allies Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas Paswan), Telugu Desam Party (Ashok Gajapati Raju) and interestingly, Shiv Sena (Anant G Geete), with which it continues to have a troubled relationship in Maharashtra.
Two seats have gone to the 44-member Congress – Mallikarjuna Kharge and Sonia Gandhi, one each to the 33-member Trinamool Congress (Sudip Bandopadhyay) and the 20-member Biju Janata Dal (Bhartuhari Mahtab). There is one seat for LS Deputy Speaker M. Thambidurai (from the AIADMK). The 37-member AIADMK will get one more front row seat, sources said, depending on whom the party leader nominates.
The BJP’s front row occupants are Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior party leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, D.V. Sadanand Gowda, Ananth Kumar and there is one vacant seat.
