Om Birla was elected for the second time as Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday, by voice vote. After a 10 years’ wait, Congress got the chair of...
Om Birla was elected for the second time as Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday, by voice vote. After a 10 years’ wait, Congress got the chair of Leader of Opposition and Rahul took over as LoP. The Opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc had fielded K Suresh in the Speaker’s election, but at the last moment, it did not press for voting. Om Birla was declared elected by pro-tem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab. Since independence, Om Birla is the sixth person to occupy the chair of Speaker for the second time. The most significant point to note in this election is that while on one hand, NDA remained solidly united, and managed to gain support from Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal, on the other hand, fissures were clearly visible in the I.N.D.I.A Opposition bloc. Congress reportedly took the decision not to press for division without taking allies into confidence. The result was, when Trinamool Congress members pressed for division, it was overruled by the pro-tem Speaker since no prior notice was given. Congress claimed, it wanted to maintain the tradition of maintaining unanimity in the election of Speaker and therefore, did not press for division. The secret was however spilled out by JMM member Mahua Majhi, who said, since the ruling alliance had a upper hand in the numbers game, the Opposition did not press for division.from IndiaTV India: Google News Feed https://ift.tt/PlAYbEt
