NEW DELHI: While all eyes are on the crucial election to select the new Lok Sabha Speaker on June 26, outgoing Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday said he has no role in the decision and it was for the political parties to decide on the new Speaker and the Deputy Speaker.
“All these decisions are taken by political parties. These decisions cannot be taken by me,” said Birla. The first session of Parliament will be held from June 24 to July 4.
The election of the Speaker is seen as the first test of the NDA government after the BJP fell short of securing a majority mark of 272 seats to form the government. While speculation is rife that the BJP may keep the post for the party considering the crucial role of the Speaker, its key allies TDP and JD(U) also don’t seem to be on the same page.
While JD(U) says that it will support the BJP’s pick for the Speaker post, the TDP maintains it will back a consensus candidate among NDA partners. Outgoing Speaker Om Birla and Andhra Pradesh BJP chief D Purandeswari are the frontrunners for the post.
Another contentious issue is the election of deputy speaker, a post that had been vacant for the last five years. With the INDIA bloc parties having an impressive number of 234 members in the new Lok Sabha, the opposition leaders are pitching for a deputy speaker.
While the outgoing 17th Lok Sabha was unprecedented in functioning without a deputy speaker, the Constitution mandates the election of the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha soon after the Speaker is elected.
Though Opposition parties made several representations to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in the 17th Lok Sabha, no action has been taken to appoint a deputy Speaker.
According to the ‘The Hindu’ newspaper – The announcement of the date for the election of a new Speaker for the Lok Sabha has set off speculation over who could occupy that role come June 26, with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners likely to meet around June 22 or June 23 to decide the alliance’s candidate.
While the Janata Dal-United (JD (U)) has stated that a BJP claim on the post would be respected by them, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is speaking of a consensus “NDA candidate”.
Matters were complicated by Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, who said that the Opposition INDIA bloc will support the the TDP’s choice if the party decided to field a candidate for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s election.
Mr. Raut said that the Opposition’s support would be forthcoming, apprehending alleged designs by the BJP to break the parties of its allies to shore up its own numbers. “I hear the TDP wants to field its candidate. If that happens, INDIA bloc partners will discuss the issue and will try to ensure that all the INDIA (Indian National Democratic, Inclusive Alliance) partners extend support to the TDP,” he said.
He added that the Opposition should get the Deputy Speaker’s post in accordance with the rules, with the Lok Sabha not having had a Deputy Speaker for the past five years. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MP Thambidurai had held the post between 2014-19, but the party had been part of the NDA grouping.
Sources in the TDP told The Hindu that the BJP “had been consultative so far” and they expected this attitude to continue. TDP sources also confirmed that the name of Daggubatti Purandareshwari was making the rounds, as was the name of Bhratruhari Mahtab, a multiple-term member earlier with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and now with the BJP. “We are yet to formally discuss it, though,” the source said.
The JD(U) didn’t have any such misgivings. “The position of the Lok Sabha Speaker is the most dignified post of the House. The ruling party has the first right on the seat. The demands and statements of the INDIA alliance are objectionable. We believe that the BJP is the big party of the NDA. I have been in the NDA for 35 years. The BJP never tried to break any party. We will never try to weaken the NDA,” JD(U) spokesperson K.C. Tyagi said.
Going by the mood of continuity exhibited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in repeating nearly all the Ministers from his previous tenure in the current iteration of his government, there is also talk that the incumbent Speaker, Om Birla, could also be repeated. “Birla-ji became the first Speaker in two decades to be voted back into the Lok Sabha. The last one to do that was P.A. Sangma of the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party), in 1998, after he had held the Speaker’s post in the 11th Lok Sabha,” a source in the government said.
