With the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government refusing to allow the Congress to nominate the Leader of Opposition, and the Congress threatening to knock on the doors of the Supreme Court if it isn’t accorded that privilege, the budget session of Parliament is set for a stormy start.
The impasse over the Leader of Opposition has reached a stage where the traditional focal point of the session – the government’s budget proposals – could lose much of its shine in the general debates.
“We are not just asking for the post for a representative of the party, but it is a Constitutional requirement in the selection process of several high offices,” Congress leader in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, told mediapersons on Saturday, adding that his party would do everything to force the BJP to relent on its demand.
Last Thursday, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Malllikarjun Kharge, and the party’s chief whip, Jyotiraditya Scindia, met Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan to convey their party’s sentiment, arguing that they hoped she would take a decision “in true democratic spirit”.
Sumitra Mahajan, who had earlier said that she would take a decision on the issue before the budget session, has so far steered clear of it.
The BJP has argued that the house rules demand that the largest opposition party should have one-tenth of the Lok Sabha strength (55) in order to get the LOP post. The Congress, which is the largest opposition party but has just 44 members in the Lok Sabha, has rejected this argument. “There is no hard and fast rule for gaining ten percent of the total strength of the 543 members of the Lok Sabha to claim the Leader of Opposition post. The government should recognise the Leader of Opposition by now,” Congress leader Rashid Alvi said.
Over the last few years, the role of the Leader of Opposition has increased considerably in the democratic functioning of the executive. In selection panels prescribed for the appointment of members of Central Vigilance Commission, members of the Lokpal, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation and head of the National Human Rights Commission, the Leader of Opposition is the sole person representing the opposition viewpoint, thus acting as a check on the government. The absence of the Leader of Opposition from all these selection panels may frustrate the intent of the laws that govern them. The Congress feels that the requirement of these laws overrides the 10% rule.
It is this legal dimension of the Leader of Opposition status that has led the Congress to say that it might go to the Supreme Court over this. The party's strategy is that the controversy, if it drags further, would show Prime Minister Narendra Modi as being undemocratic and potentially earn him a judicial snub at a later stage.
In the short term, the deadlock may just mar the budget session. It became clear during the all-party meet convened by the speaker on Saturday that the Congress, despite its depleted representation in the Lok Sabha, is gearing up to take the growing bitterness to its logical conclusion. According to sources, Mallikarjun Kharge made it clear in this meet that the “Congress would do what the opposition did in the previous Lok Sabha”, thus implying that the party is seriously working on the option of using noisy tactics to block the proceedings of the house.
Besides the impasse over the LOP, the Congress appears ready to raise the issues of price rise and the hike in railway fares. Given the fiery mood of members belonging to Trinamool Congress, the Left parties, the Biju Janata Dal and many other parties in Saturday’s meet, chances are high that the budget session would put the government and the opposition parties in long-term confrontational mode.
In such an eventuality, the Rajya Sabha, in which the BJP and its allies are in a minority, may become the real battleground. The Congress appears willing to use its numbers in the upper house to put the government to task and block legislative business in the Rajya Sabha it tries to push. Although the government may then have the option of calling joint sessions of the parliament, this is usually done on rare occasions.
The impasse over the Leader of Opposition has reached a stage where the traditional focal point of the session – the government’s budget proposals – could lose much of its shine in the general debates.
“We are not just asking for the post for a representative of the party, but it is a Constitutional requirement in the selection process of several high offices,” Congress leader in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, told mediapersons on Saturday, adding that his party would do everything to force the BJP to relent on its demand.
Last Thursday, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Malllikarjun Kharge, and the party’s chief whip, Jyotiraditya Scindia, met Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan to convey their party’s sentiment, arguing that they hoped she would take a decision “in true democratic spirit”.
Sumitra Mahajan, who had earlier said that she would take a decision on the issue before the budget session, has so far steered clear of it.
The BJP has argued that the house rules demand that the largest opposition party should have one-tenth of the Lok Sabha strength (55) in order to get the LOP post. The Congress, which is the largest opposition party but has just 44 members in the Lok Sabha, has rejected this argument. “There is no hard and fast rule for gaining ten percent of the total strength of the 543 members of the Lok Sabha to claim the Leader of Opposition post. The government should recognise the Leader of Opposition by now,” Congress leader Rashid Alvi said.
Over the last few years, the role of the Leader of Opposition has increased considerably in the democratic functioning of the executive. In selection panels prescribed for the appointment of members of Central Vigilance Commission, members of the Lokpal, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation and head of the National Human Rights Commission, the Leader of Opposition is the sole person representing the opposition viewpoint, thus acting as a check on the government. The absence of the Leader of Opposition from all these selection panels may frustrate the intent of the laws that govern them. The Congress feels that the requirement of these laws overrides the 10% rule.
It is this legal dimension of the Leader of Opposition status that has led the Congress to say that it might go to the Supreme Court over this. The party's strategy is that the controversy, if it drags further, would show Prime Minister Narendra Modi as being undemocratic and potentially earn him a judicial snub at a later stage.
In the short term, the deadlock may just mar the budget session. It became clear during the all-party meet convened by the speaker on Saturday that the Congress, despite its depleted representation in the Lok Sabha, is gearing up to take the growing bitterness to its logical conclusion. According to sources, Mallikarjun Kharge made it clear in this meet that the “Congress would do what the opposition did in the previous Lok Sabha”, thus implying that the party is seriously working on the option of using noisy tactics to block the proceedings of the house.
Besides the impasse over the LOP, the Congress appears ready to raise the issues of price rise and the hike in railway fares. Given the fiery mood of members belonging to Trinamool Congress, the Left parties, the Biju Janata Dal and many other parties in Saturday’s meet, chances are high that the budget session would put the government and the opposition parties in long-term confrontational mode.
In such an eventuality, the Rajya Sabha, in which the BJP and its allies are in a minority, may become the real battleground. The Congress appears willing to use its numbers in the upper house to put the government to task and block legislative business in the Rajya Sabha it tries to push. Although the government may then have the option of calling joint sessions of the parliament, this is usually done on rare occasions.
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