Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have reached out to the Opposition parties on Monday asking them not to bother about their numbers in the Lok Sabha, but it would certainly matter when it comes to deciding the Leader of the Opposition.
Sources told The Hindu that the second term of the Modi government would follow its own precedent and would not offer the official post to the Congress since it has only 52 members as against the requirement of 55.
“Unlike last time, when the shortfall was by 11 MPs, this time it is only three MPs. So there were some suggestions that the government should consider. But now the government has decided it will not accord the status to the Congress leader,” a source said.
Crucial role
As a member of the selection panel, the Leader of the Opposition has a crucial role in deciding key appointments such as CBI Director, Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal.
While the previous Modi government made changes to the CBI (Delhi Special Police Establishment Act) and the CVC Act to include the Leader of the single largest Opposition party as a member of the panel, it did not amend the Lokpal Act.
‘Special invitee’
Former Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was invited to be part of the Lokpal selection meetings as a “special invitee” but Mr. Kharge refused to attend many times with the argument that the status of an invitee did not bestow any “right” on the Opposition member in the decision making. Whoever the Congress now chooses as its leader in the Lok Sabha to replace Mr. Kharge, the government would continue with same arrangement.
Though amid the continuing uncertainty over the continuance of Rahul Gandhi as the Congress chief, the party is yet to choose its leader and deputy leader in the House.
The front runners
Kodikunnil Suresh, seven-time MP from Kerala, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, five-time MP from West Bengal, and Shashi Tharoor, third-time MP from Kerala, are being talked about as front-runners but there has been no official announcement.
The Congress, though, officially reacted to Mr. Modi’s earlier statement: “We should forget paksh [treasury] and vipaksh [Opposition]. We should think about issues with a nishpaksh [impartial] spirit and work in the larger interest of the nation.”
Ordinance route
Deputy leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma alleged that in the previous term, the government had pushed through most of the Bills without proper debates or through the ordinance route.
“We will now wait for the Prime Minister’s assurance in this regard and whether the practice that was followed in the past five years is reversed. In the last five years, what we have seen is disrespect to Parliament, where the Bills were brought by the government and because of its brute majority in the Lok Sabha, Parliament was treated as a rubber stamp,” Mr. Sharma said. “Legislation through ordinance is a very unhealthy practice in a democracy.”