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With the Budget session of Parliament beginning on Monday, a face-off between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government and the Congress about the Leader of Opposition (LoP) seems imminent. While the Congress is miffed at being denied the LoP status - which it terms a 'Constitutional necessity' - and is mulling moving the court, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkiah Naidu said Parliament has functioned well in the past without an LoP.
The Congress has also dropped hints it might disrupt proceedings, if it is not given the LoP post by virtue of its being the second-largest party with 44 members in the 543-member house.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is citing precedents when the Congress was in an overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha and didn't offer LoP status to an opposition party in the Lok Sabha in 1971, 1980 and even in 1984, when the Telugu Desam Party was not accorded the status. A senior minister said the Speaker couldn't yet decide on the matter when the Congress is yet to formally seek the status. He said people have not granted the numbers to the Congress to get that status. Both sides are citing legal statutes and parliamentary rules to substantiate their claims. The Congress rejects these arguments and cites the Salary and Allowances Of Leaders of Opposition In Parliament Act, 1977. Section 2 stipulates a Leader of Opposition as the "Leader of the party in opposition to the government (in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha) having the greatest numerical strength." The Congress categorically points out that there is no mention of any other condition.
However, the contentious 10 per cent strength requirement finds mention in the Leaders and Chief Whips of Recognised Parties and Groups in Parliament (Facilities) Act, 1998, which defines a "recognised party" in the Lok Sabha as "every party which has strength of not less than 55 members in the House".
Also, according to the directions by the speaker under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, under Rule 121, any group to be recognised as a parliamentary party "shall have at least a strength equal to the quorum fixed to constitute a sitting of the house, that is one-tenth of the total number of members in the House".
While the Congress would find itself on a weak wicket on these grounds, its claim finds support in former secretary-general of the Lok Sabha, T K Vishwanathan.
"There is a view that the Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act 1977 alone should be followed and the Act of 1998 was not applicable as it was about facilities for chief whips."
P D T Achary, also a former secretary-general of the Lok Sabha, shares the view that the 1977 Act has to be relied upon and the house has to have a recognised leader of the opposition "as per law".
The Congress, which is expected to present a formal written representation buttressing its claims, has reiterated that precedents when there was no LoP are not applicable today as selection committees for chiefs of Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Human Rights Commission and Lok Pal require the LoP's presence on the panel.
Moreover, if for argument's sake, even if the 10 per cent rule were to be followed, the Congress along with its pre-poll UPA allies, has the required numbers with a combined strength of 60 seats. The Congress has mentioned Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (six seats), Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (four seats), Indian Union Muslim League (two seats), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (two seats), Kerala Congress (M) (one seat) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (one seat) as pre-poll allies.
Going even by the vote share of the respective parties, while the BJP had only 18 per cent of the vote share when in Opposition, the Congress has 19.5 per cent of the votes now.
The government has taken legal opinion and is convinced there was nothing in the statute to force the speaker to offer LoP status to the Congress. Sources in the government said that the Lok Sabha speaker would go by the rules on the issue, which they said are clear that the leader of the party with at least 10 per cent of the seats in Lok Sabha is accorded LoP status.
A senior Congress leader said: "We are not concerned about whether our leader Mallikarjun Kharge will get the Cabinet rank associated with the LOP but more about the fact that the LoP's role has now evolved into one that plays a crucial appointments of the CVC, the CBI, etc."
However, that LoP would not be part of the panels that select the CVC or Lokpal isn't something that worries the BJP, whose Sushma Swaraj as LoP had effectively embarrassed the previous Congress-led government on the appointment of CVC P J Thomas.
The NDA is unlikely to yield to the Congress' demand. However, the BJP has a keen eye on how other opposition parties react to the issue, whether Congress succeeds in convincing non-NDA parties to make a common cause to pressurise the government on the issue. However, the assessment in the BJP is that such a scenario is unlikely.
