Although the INDIA bloc initially was in favour of arriving at a consensus with the Centre on issues such as the choice of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, the government’s decision to not select eight-term Congress MP Kodikkunnil Suresh, the senior most parliamentarian in the Lok Sabha, as the pro-tem Speaker, likely makes the first session of the Lok Sabha a rocky one.
As a result ahead of the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha, the NDA government and the INDIA bloc sparred on the issue of Pro-tem Speaker with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju accusing the Congress of resorting to lies and the opposition threatening to refuse to join the panel of chairpersons in the House.
President Droupadi Murmu announced that seven-term Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab of the BJP would serve as the pro-tem Speaker, drawing criticism from the Congress that said it was against convention. Congress MP Manish Tewari lamented that the decision to override the claims of K Suresh is not keeping with the spirit of multi partisanship required to run the House.
The Congress, which has increased its tally of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), has also alleged a “caste angle”, with many pointing out that Suresh is a Dalit leader Suresh had said his claim to the post of pro-tem speaker was overlooked as he belonged to the Dalit community.
“Mr K Suresh is an eight-term Dalit MP and the BJP opted for a seven-term upper class MP against a Dalit even for a pro-tem speaker post. What does that show?” Congress MP Manickam Tagore asked.
Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi in a post on X alleged that the Modi government was “denying the Dalit community in India a landmark opportunity to see a member of their community preside over the oath-taking of 543 MPs representing different religions, gender, caste and regions of India”.
The President had also named five senior members -“ K Suresh (Congress), T R Baalu (DMK), Radha Mohan Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste (both BJP) and Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC) to assist Mahtab in the process that will take place over the first three days of the Lok Sabha Session commencing on June 24. However, .opposition sources said Suresh, Baalu and Bandyopadhyay may not join the panel of chairpersons to assist pro-tem Speaker Mahtab in administering the oath to the newly elected members of the Lok Sabha.
