Unfazed by the Congress exploring the possibility of a legal solution to secure the position of the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Parliament, Union Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Congress was free to go to court, but the BJP was in no mood to deviate from the norms of appointing the LoP.
“Anyone can go to court, that is their right. But let me clarify that the call on LoP will be taken by the Speaker,” Mr. Prasad said on Tuesday.
“As a student of India’s parliamentary tradition, I should flag that the decision of appointing the LoP has since 1953 been taken by the Speaker,” he added.
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The Law Minister said since 1969, the tradition was to give LoP status to the leader of the party with at least 10 per cent members in the House.
He cited the years when there was no LoP elected and pointed out how in 1984 when the BJP was reduced to just two members in the House and TDP had 39, the norm was still adhered to.
“Between 1971 and 1977 there was no LoP, again between 1980 and 1989 there was no LoP. In all these 60 years the same rules have applied. The decision regarding LoP has been taken by Speakers of all shades, from Rabi Ray of the Janata Party to Shivraj Patil and Meira Kumar of the Congress and Somnath Chatterjee of the CPM… there is no grey area in the appointment of LoP. If there has to be a change, then there should be a discussion,” Mr. Prasad said.
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“The kind of energy and hard work that the Congress is putting in to explore the need to go to court, would have served it better, if it had spent it on reflecting honestly on how it was reduced to 44 [Members of Parliament],” said Mr. Prasad.
Declining to comment on the Chief Justice of India’s views on the controversy related to the dropping of senior advocate Gopal Subramanium’s name as Supreme Court judge, Mr. Prasad said the government had a right to seek reconsideration of the recommendation made.