The appointment of a Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha would be decided in the budget session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Thurday. As for whether the government intended to allow the largest opposition party, the Congress, the status of the Leader of Opposition, he said it would be decided by the Lok Sabha Speaker.
But public comments made by Mr Naidu and other senior BJP ministers in the last few days point clearly to the unwillingness of the government to give the Congress LoP status: the argument is that there is no past precedent for an opposition party that has got less than 10 per cent of the seats in the LS being given that position.
BJP sources also indicated that the LS Deputy Speaker’s position would go to an opposition party, but not the 44 MP strong Congress. Of the three parties with substantial numbers, the AIADMK (37), the Trinamool Congress(34) and the Biju Janata Dal (20), the AIADMK is likely to be given the Deputy Speakership if it wants it.
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