Kharge meets LS Speaker on Parliament session eve

Seeks the post of leader of opposition

With Parliament session beginning next week, Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress legislature party in the Lok Sabha, met Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, seeking the post of leader of opposition.

Kharge was accompanied by Jyotiraditya Scindia, Deepender Hooda and two other RJD members Shailesh Kumar and Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav.  The Speaker had earlier said she would take a call on it after studying the precedents. Only leader of a party with 10 per cent seats of the total strength of the House can claim the post of leader of opposition.   

A senior Congress leader said, “Till now, we had been making public statements and putting across why our demand for leader of opposition position was a legitimate one. Now, we submitted a formal representation.”

Now, the front row of the opposition bench in the Lok Sabha could accommodate only two MPs.

This means Kharge would be sharing the front row with United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is against giving the post to Congress. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu has maintained that the Speaker would take the final decision. The Congress could be given the post of the chief of Public Accounts Committee.

The leader of opposition holds Cabinet rank and has a say on appointment of crucial constitutional positions.