New Delhi: Division in the Opposition on the Bill to remove legal hurdles in the appointment of former Trai chief Nripendra Misra as principal secretary to the Prime Minister is weakening the Congress’ claim for the Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House.
While key non-NDA parties, like the AIADMK, the Trinamul, the BJD and the UPA ally NCP, took a line different from the main Opposition on this issue and thus refused to ally with the Congress, the RJD, the AAP, the RSP and the CPM staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha.
Asked about the Trin-amuls’ change of stand on this issue, Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed took a dig at the Mamata Banerjee-led party, saying, “If somebody takes a U-turn, is it the fault of the Congress?”
Mr Ahmed, however, downplayed the issue of the NCP not backing it on the issue, saying, “It is for them to decide and they have decided in their own wisdom. They are separate entities. Some parties thought that the protest was against one individual. The Congress has made it clear that it is not opposing any individual but the way the ordinance was brought.”
The Congress has been keen on floor coordination with non-NDA parties in the two Houses of Parli-ament on certain issues but it has not succeeded so far.
On the other hand, its claim to the post of Leader of the Opposition is pending before Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
The Congress wants to have a Leader of the Opposition on the ground that the UPA has more than 55 members in the Lok Sabha. The government managers said, “The Congress have staked the claim to the post before making a formal request to the Speaker... they went to the media, threatened to go to court and want it should be given to the UPA.”
“Did the Congress and its pre-poll allies fight the Lok Sabha elections on a common manifesto. Do they subscribe to a common ideology?” they asked.
A government “trouble-shooter” viewed that “the Congress seems to be obsessed with two issues Leader of the Opposition and the income-tax notice in the National Herald case”.
No major opposition wants to sit with congress in Lok Sabha
Atleast three key Opposition parties the AIADMK, the Trinamul and the BJD —are said to be unwilling to have seats in the Lok Sabha along with the Congress .
Sources said that the three regional parties which together have 91 members in the lower house of the Parliament, are not keen about the idea of sitting next to the Congress.
Speaker Sumitra Mah-ajan, who has to get the seating arrangement in place through the LS secretariat, is trying to sort out the issue for which a number of meetings have already been held.
While the Congress, which has been making a strong pitch for the Leader of the Opposition post in the House, has 44 members, the AIADMK has 37, Trinamul has 34 and BJD has 20 members.
Meanwhile, the Union government on Monday said that the Congress-led dispensation had promulgated 61 ordinances when it was in power from 2004 to 2014 in a bid to turn the tables on the Opposition partyon the Trai (Amendment) Bill.
Parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu regretted that the Congress opposed the Bill in spite of the fact that it was neither an ideological issue nor one against the interest of the nation.
