Lok Sabha mandate puts next Lok Sabha Speaker in spotlight

NDA allies eye post of Lok Sabha Speaker

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, June 5: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Wednesday unanimously elected Narendra Modi as the leader. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar urged upon the NDA leaders for an early government formation.

Modi will take oath as the prime minister on Saturday. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N. Chandra Babu Naidu proposed the name of Modi for the leader of the NDA.

The meeting of the NDA at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) exhibited bonhomie among the leaders of the constituents of the alliance. Modi took the centre stage in the group photograph splashed for the show of the strength.

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But there is strong buzz among the NDA constituents on the likely choice of the alliance for the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker. The post will assume significance as no political party on its own now enjoys a majority in the Lok Sabha.

The TDP and the Janata Dal (United) are learnt to be eying the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker. Under the NDA dispensation in the past when late Atal Bihari Vajpayee led the government at the Centre, the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker had gone to the alliance partners.

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GMC Balyogi and Manohar Joshi held the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker during the NDA dispensation at the Centre in the Vajpayee era. With a coalition government on the anvil, the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker is likely to be the first test of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“The BJP will aspire to inch towards the majority mark in the Lok Sabha. There may be possibilities of the BJP engineering defections in the ranks of the smaller parties. In this backdrop, the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker will hold enough significance,” said a senior JD (U) functionary.

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It may be noted that the JD (U) leader Harivansh Narayan Singh is the deputy speaker of the Rajya Sabha. There had been no deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha all through the second tenure of the Modi-led NDA government at the Centre.

“The BJP may offer the post of the deputy speaker to an alliance partner if there is a pressure from the allies. The BJP will be keen to keep the post with the party,” said a senior ranking BJP functionary.

Breaking the jinx of the Lok Sabha Speaker losing the next Lok Sabha elections, Om Birla has won his parliamentary seat from Kota in Rajasthan. Earlier, his predecessors had lost Lok Sabha elections.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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