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Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday appealed to the Congress party again not to contest the election of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and said that it is better for all that the Leader of the House be elected unanimously.
"It is better for all of us to elect the Speaker unanimously. I think we still have time and we will make one more appeal to the Congress party but if we are pushed into the election, we are prepared. Give it a thought again," Rijiju said. "We are all colleagues in the House and we have to work together. When we make an offer to them (Opposition), we expect that the offer will be accepted gracefully but that has not been done. We will appeal to them again. There is a simple way to elect the speaker unanimously. We do not believe in making preconditions for the post of Speaker. Let us concentrate and elect the Speaker and then we can discuss the other issues later," Rijiju said. Just before the election, a meeting of Bihar NDA MPs was held at the residence of Union Minister Lallan Singh's residence. Similarly, a meeting of Rajasthan NDA MPs was held at the residence of Gajendra Singh Shekawat. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will move the motion today in the Lok Sabha to choose Om Birla as the Speaker of the lower house amid a tussle for the post with the opposition's INDIA bloc. Thereafter, Union Ministers like Lallan Singh, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Amit Shah, Chirag Paswan, HD Kumaraswamy, and Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu will also move the motion to choose Birla as the Speaker. Traditionally, the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker were elected through consensus between the ruling party and the opposition. The contest will witness the BJP's Om Birla, a three-time MP from Kota in Rajasthan, up against the Congress' Kodikunnil Suresh, an eight-term parliamentarian from Kerala's Mavelikara. Suresh is the longest-serving parliamentarian in the 18th Lok Sabha. Both the ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress Party have issued three-line whips to their members, mandating their presence in the Lok Sabha today from 11 am until the end of the proceedings. The INDIA bloc is unlikely to push for a division of votes and only insist on a voice vote to make its point. The NDA, which commands 293 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha, holds a clear majority, while the opposition INDIA bloc comprises 234 MPs. (ANI)
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