June 25th 2024.
In the political arena of New Delhi, the race for the Lok Sabha Speaker's post is heating up as BJP's Om Birla and Congress' Kodikunnil Suresh are set to go head to head. After attempts to reach a consensus between the government and the opposition failed on Tuesday, the voting for the Speaker's post is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
Both Birla and Suresh have filed their nominations, representing the NDA and INDIA blocs respectively. Birla, who previously held the position of Speaker in the last Lok Sabha, is looking to secure the post for a second term, which hasn't been done in the last 25 years. Before filing his nomination, Birla also met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has been elected as a Member of Parliament for the third time from Kota in Rajasthan.
On the other hand, Suresh, an eight-time MP from Kerala, believes that the Speaker should be from the ruling party while the deputy speaker should be from the opposition. However, in the last two Lok Sabhas, the opposition was denied the deputy speaker's post, citing their lack of recognition. Now that they have been recognized as the opposition, Suresh feels it is their right to hold the position of deputy speaker, but the government is not willing to give it to them. Despite waiting until 11:50 PM for a response from the government, Suresh and his party were left disappointed.
In an attempt to secure support for Birla, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Rajnath Singh reached out to opposition leaders. However, the Congress demanded the deputy speaker's post for the opposition in return, citing past practices and conventions. In the previous Lok Sabha, there was no deputy speaker. Union Ministers Rajiv Ranjan Singh and Piyush Goyal criticized the opposition for putting forth conditions, while Rajnath Singh suggested discussing the issue of deputy speaker's election at a later time.
Earlier in the day, Congress leader KC Venugopal and DMK's TR Baalu walked out of Defence Minister Singh's office, as they were not satisfied with the government's response regarding the deputy speaker's post. According to Venugopal, the BJP did not give any assurance about offering the position to the opposition. Despite efforts from Union Ministers Amit Shah and J P Nadda, as well as Singh, the opposition did not endorse the NDA candidate.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh expressed his disappointment, stating that the prime minister had called for consensus only 24 hours ago. He also pointed out that the convention has always been to elect the Speaker unanimously and offer the deputy speaker's post to the opposition. Ramesh accused Prime Minister Modi of breaking this tradition and suggested that he is still not ready to accept the 2024 election results, which were a "personal, political, and moral defeat" for him.
According to sources, over 10 sets of nominations were filed in support of Birla's candidacy, including from Prime Minister Modi, Union Ministers Shah, Singh, and Nadda, and BJP allies like TDP, JD, JD, and LJP. On the other hand, three sets of nominations were filed in support of Suresh, who is a Dalit leader. As the stage is set for the election of the Lok Sabha Speaker, all eyes will be on the outcome of this highly anticipated battle between the two candidates.
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