Stalemate over Leader of Opposition continues

The law must be amended before conferring the status on Congress, says Digvijaya Singh

July 07, 2014 05:32 am | Updated November 16, 2021 07:15 pm IST - NEW DELHI

On the eve of the budget session, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government continued to wrangle over the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) status.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is yet to take a view on whether the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, is eligible for the LoP status as his party does not have one-tenth of the strength in a House of 545 members. The Congress has only 44 members.

Congress leaders have issued different statements on the subject. Senior party leader Digvijaya Singh was quoted on Friday by a section of the media as saying the law needs to be amended before conferring status of LoP on the Congress leader.

However, his colleague and the former Union Minister Sachin Pilot has argued that not having one in the Lok Sabha would not do justice to the world’s largest democracy.

“There is no law, just a Speaker’s ruling. It also depends on whether you want to have a real Opposition or not. Forget about the perks and emoluments that you get as Leader of the Opposition… that can be taken away... but there must be a semblance of balance in Parliament,” he told the PTI .

As per the business listed for Monday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh would introduce a Bill to amend the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act to replace the Ordinance promulgated to transfer some villages from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh. The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in the new State had firmly opposed the move and plans to protest when the Bill is moved.

In the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman will introduce The National Institute of Design Bill, 2013 to make it an institution of national importance for promotion of quality and excellence in education.

Correction & Clarification

This report referred to the former Union Minister, Rajesh Pilot, talking about not having a Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. It should have been Sachin Pilot.

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