Rahul Gandhi keeps all guessing on role in Lok Sabha
Image credit X @RahulGandhi
Congress may pick combative MP for leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, June 5: Former president of the Congress Rahul Gandhi is basking in the glory of the Lok Sabha verdict. The Congress didn’t win the Lok Sabha elections. But Rahul Gandhi is gaining accolades for his leadership.
The Congress won a total of 99 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress had won a total of 52 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress had slipped to a miserable 44 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress could not bag the official status of the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha for the past 10 years.
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But the Congress is now all set to be the main official Opposition party in the Lok Sabha. The main Opposition party must count at least 10 per cent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha in its ranks.
Rahul Gandhi won both the Rae Bareli and the Wayanad Lok Sabha seats with big margins of the votes. He was seen being applauded by the leaders of the Opposition block, the Indian National Developmental and Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), during the meeting on Wednesday.
But the Congress observers are wondering if Rahul Gandhi will finally step into the big shoes of taking the formal leadership of the party in parliament. The Congress leader, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, was the leader of the party in the last Lok Sabha.
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“The LoP in the Lok Sabha on the lines of the Rajya Sabha has to do a lot of official works. The post ties the person holding the position. It’s a kind of 24X7 job,” said a senior Congress observer.
He doubted if Rahul Gandhi will take the position of the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. “Rahul Gandhi will still prefer to be free from the responsibility of any official position. He will continue doing what he has been doing for the past two years,” said a senior Congress functionary.
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The Congress may count on several of the MPs in its ranks in the Lok Sabha to choose the leader of the Opposition. Chowdhury was known to have been wayward and incoherent as the leader of the Opposition.
The Congress observers argue that the party may find out a combative leader of the Opposition who could be suitable for an assertive outfit in the Lok Sabha with a strong number of MPs on the benches.
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