Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday, June 24, that the Opposition will support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government during the Lok Sabha Speaker election only if the deputy speaker's post is given to the bloc. Rahul Gandhi also accused senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh of “insulting” Mallikarjun Kharge, saying the defence minister is yet to get back to the Congress chief on the deputy speaker post demand.
Addressing media outside Parliament on the second day of the session, Rahul Gandhi said, “Today it is written in the newspaper that PM Modi has said that the Opposition should cooperate with the Govt constructively. Rajnath Singh called Mallikarjun Kharge and he asked him to extend support to the Speaker.”
“The entire Opposition said that we would support the Speaker but the convention is that the Deputy Speaker post should be given to the Opposition. Rajnath Singh said that he would call back Mallikarjun Kharge but he has not done that yet...PM Modi is asking for cooperation from Opposition but our leader is getting insulted,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Meanwhile, BJP MP from Kota in Rajasthan, Om Birla, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, June 24, amid rumours that he could be fielded again for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.
The election to the Speaker's post are sheduled for July 26. According to the news reports, there is no concensus on the Speaker's post.
With the deadline for the nomination to the Lok Sabha Speaker election nearing, Rajnath Singh has been reaching out to Opposition leaders on behalf of the government to secure consensus. Rajnath Singh also reached out to Mallikarjun Kharge for the Opposition support to the NDA candidate.