BJP's Birla vs Congress' Suresh for Lok Sabha Speaker post

Two candidates have filed their nomination for the post of lone Lok Sabha Speaker's post on Tuesday. Senior BJP MP Om Birla, who was also the Speaker in the last Lok Sabha, will be the NDA nominee for the post this time as well, whereas the opposition INDIA bloc has fielded Congress MP K. Suresh for the post, for which the election is scheduled to be held on Wednesday. Earlier, the government and opposition failed to reach a consensus for the post. JD(U) leader and Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh told reporters in New Delhi that Birla's name was decided unanimously by all NDA parties and that senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh also reached out to the opposition for their support.Hitting out at the opposition, Lalan Singh said they wanted a decision on the post of deputy speaker immediately despite Rajnath Singh requesting that everyone should sit together and discuss the issue when the time comes for the selection.

#WATCH | Delhi: Delhi: Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh says, "To talk about the Speaker's position, KC Venugopal and TR Balu had come. They spoke to the Defence Minister. The Defence Minister informed about the Lok Sabha Speaker candidate from the NDA side and he asked… pic.twitter.com/q1cpwUj2l7

— ANI (@ANI) June 25, 2024

His Cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal said it would have been better to have an consensus candidate and criticised the opposition for putting forth conditions. Democracy cannot be run on conditions, he asserted.Goyal said senior Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, and JP Nadda had a meeting with Congress leader KC Venugopal and DMK MP TR Baalu over the issue. However, they were insisting on announcing the name of the deputy speaker before endorsing Birla’s candidature. Mr Goyal said they were informed that the Deputy Speaker issue would be dealt with at the time of the election. He said the opposition was putting conditions, which were rejected by the government.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said that the opposition is ready to extend support to the NDA nominee for the speaker post, but the Deputy Speaker post must be given to the opposition candidate. Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Gandhi said Union Minister Rajnath Singh had called Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, seeking support for the Speaker post. He said that  Kharge had told him that the opposition was ready to extend support to the NDA nominee, but, as per convention, the Deputy Speaker post should be given to the opposition. The opposition INDIA bloc has fielded Congress leader K Suresh as its candidate for the speaker's post.