All eyes on Lok Sabha Speaker’s nomination

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, June 24

With the nomination for the election of Lok Sabha Speaker scheduled for Tuesday, the Congress-led Opposition said it was waiting for the government to make the first move to build consensus on the post.

Opposition sources said the government was yet to engage non-NDA leaders about its nominee for the crucial constitutional post.

“We have not heard anything from the government. We will wait for the government to make a move and build consensus because the Speaker is the custodian of the entire Lok Sabha and has always been elected by consensus. Once the government initiates the discussion, we will see,” said Congress’ eight-term MP K Suresh, whom the party wanted as Pro tem Speaker instead of BJP’s Bhartruhari Mahtab. Opposition RSP’s NK Premachandran was more open about the strategy and said if the government did not engage the Opposition, it would contest the election for the Speaker’s post.

Other Opposition sources indicated that even the Deputy Speaker’s post could be contested if the government failed to take the Opposition on board about its Speaker nominee. The government, meanwhile, remained tight-lipped about its plans and potential nominees with the names of Mahtab and Andhra BJP chief D Purandeshwari continuing to do the rounds.

The government had tasked Rajnath Singh, the Deputy Leader of the Lok Sabha, to build consensus on the issue. He has held discussions with NDA allies on the issue. In the Opposition camp, a plan B is learnt to be ready should the government decide to push its own leader as the Speaker. The Opposition has been mulling a senior leader from South India as a possible candidate.