"Let us not break convention and tradition": Kiren Rijiju criticises Congress for putting conditions on Speaker's post

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday criticised the Congress party for wanting the post of Deputy Speaker in return for extending support to the post of Lok Sabha Speaker and said that putting up conditions is wrong.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday criticised the Congress party for wanting the post of Deputy Speaker in return for extending support to the post of Lok Sabha Speaker and said that putting up conditions is wrong. Speaking with the reporters, Rijiju said, "For the last two days, we have contacted the major opposition parties and we have talked about the post of Speaker. Since the country became independent, there has never been an election of the Speaker, and we want the Speaker to be elected unanimously and unopposed, so we contacted and appealed to them."

Informing about the meeting with the Congress, Rijiju said, "Today, we had a meeting with Congress leaders. We appealed to them for support for the Speaker but they said that they would support it but that they wanted the post of Deputy Speaker. We told them that the process of election for both posts is different. The process for choosing the Speaker is conducted before the Deputy Speaker. So it is not right to combine both." Rijiju further said that the Deputy Speaker post was given to the opposition party in 1991.

He criticised Congress for putting up conditions for extending their support to the post of Speaker and said, "The tradition has been that the Speaker is elected unanimously and that has been a practice. Let us not break convention and tradition and putting conditions on the Speaker post itself is wrong. I once again appeal to the Congress party to follow tradition and convention and let us elect the new speaker of Lok Sabha unanimously." "The attitude of the Congress party was clear, they want Dy Speaker post in return for supporting us for the post of Speaker. I appeal again that they should think about keeping in mind the dignity of the post of Speaker," Rijiju said.

He added further, "We have the numbers but still, we are requesting that there be no election for the post of Speaker because this post does not belong to any party." Urging the Congress party to extend their support for the post of Speaker, Rijiju said, "With an open heart, we have said that we will discuss the process of choosing the post of Deputy Speaker but first, let's decide on the Speaker. Once it's done, we will come to Deputy Speaker also."

Earlier in the day, the INDIA bloc's Kodikunnil Suresh, along with NDA candidate Om Birla, filed their nominations for the post of Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha on Tuesday, forcing the first election for the post. Since independence, the Lok Sabha Speaker and deputy Speaker have been elected by consensus between the ruling party and the opposition but this time, after the INDIA bloc's announcement, the election will take place.

The Lok Sabha Speaker will be elected on June 26. On June 27, President Murmu is scheduled to address a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament. INDIA bloc candidate K Suresh is currently the longest-serving Lok Sabha MP, as he has remained MP for 29 years.

The NDA, which has 293 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha, enjoys a clear majority, with the opposition INDIA bloc having 234 MPs. (ANI)

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