Om Birla files nomination as Speaker’s post, Opposition brings K Suresh

Om Birla files nomination as Speaker’s post, Opposition brings K Suresh
New Delhi: Kota MP Om Birla on Tuesday filed nomination for the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker as an NDA consensus candidate, a position he held in the previous House. The election for the post will take place at 11 am on Wednesday.

Birla was accompanied by Union Ministers Amit Shah, J P Nadda, Kiren Rijiju and all NDA allies to the office of Lok Sabha secretary general for the nominations. Birla is a third-term Lok Sabha MP from Kota in Rajasthan.

With Congress Party’s K Suresh, an eight-term Kerala MP, filing his nominations for the Lok Sabha Speaker election earlier, there will be a contest for the post for the first time since independence.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tasked to engage the opposition said he spoke to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge thrice since last night.

Government sources said the opposition was putting conditions to support the Speaker nominee and that was against democratic conventions. Earlier, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said the opposition would back the Speaker nominee of the government if given the Deputy Speaker post.

After it became clear that Om Birla could be retained as Lok Sabha Speaker, Shiv Sena UBT leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said the decision of suspending over 130 MPs in the Lok Sabha, first time ever in history, disqualified Mahua Moitra on the basis of a committee that tilted towards the BJP, took a decision on allotting Shiv Sena parliamentary party office to Shinde Sena thereby legitimising the traitors without taking into account the SC case.

“If TDP and JDU support this decision then they very well be prepared for BJP trying to split their parties as well besides of course legitimising unconstitutionality,” she said.

Opposition to contest Lok Sabha Speaker post, K Suresh files nomination
The opposition on Tuesday decided to contest the election of Lok Sabha speaker after the government, they said, was non-committal to give the Deputy Speaker’s post to the Opposition. K Suresh, the eight-term MP of the Congress, filed his nomination for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.

This is the first time in country’s parliamentary history that the opposition has set up a contest for the key constitutional post. From the ruling NDA side, outgoing Speaker Om Birla has filed the nomination papers for the post after the government decided to retain him.

Earlier, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had said that support for Lok Sabha Speaker nominee of the government was conditional to the Opposition being given the post of Deputy Speaker.

Congress leader K C Venugopal and DMK’s TR Baalu went to meet Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah to discuss the Deputy Speaker issue and returned saying the government was non-committal.