BJP govt on defensive, why Opposition is smelling blood ahead of first Lok Sabha session
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (L) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) campaigning ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. (Express file photos)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (L) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) campaigning ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. (Express file photos)
As the Opposition mounts pressure on the government over the NEET-UG and UGC-NET controversies and the issue of railway safety, the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha could be tumultuous, with Opposition leaders alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “does not have the ability to consider the concerns of different political parties”.
The probability of the first session, which begins on Monday, being a rocky one grows strong as the Congress tries to mobilise an issue-based common front of non-NDA parties against the Central government. Sources in the Opposition camp said although the INDIA bloc initially was in favour of arriving at a consensus with the Centre on issues such as the choice of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, the government’s decision to not select eight-term Congress MP Kodikkunnil Suresh, the seniormost parliamentarian in the Lok Sabha, as the pro-tem Speaker “turned the atmosphere vicious”. On Thursday, President Droupadi Murmu announced that seven-term Cuttack MP Bhartruhari Mahtab of the BJP would serve as the pro-tem Speaker, drawing criticism from the Congress that said it was against convention.
“The decision to override the claims of K Suresh is not keeping with the spirit of multipartisanship required to run the House,” Congress MP Manish Tewari told The Indian Express. “The government needs to understand that the principal component does not have a majority in the Lok Sabha. If they feel that they can do what they did from 2014 to 2024, they will soon find out that they are sadly mistaken and it will be at their peril.”
In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won only 240 seats, falling 32 short of majority in the House. The Opposition INDIA alliance has 234 MPs in the Lower House.
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Members of AIDSO protesting against the Education Ministry against alleged corruption in NEET result in Kolkata on Monday. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
The Congress, which has increased its tally of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), has also alleged a “caste angle”, with many pointing out that Suresh is a Dalit leader. “Mr K Suresh is an eight-term Dalit MP and the BJP opted for a seven-term upper class MP against a Dalit even for a pro-tem speaker post. What does that show?” Congress MP Manickam Tagore asked.
Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi in a post on X alleged that the Modi government was “denying the Dalit community in India a landmark opportunity to see a member of their community preside over the oath-taking of 543 MPs representing different religions, gender, caste and regions of India”.
Gogoi said he does not expect anything different from the BJP, referring to the frequent run-ins between the treasury and Opposition benches during the 17th Lok Sabha. During the winter session, 146 Opposition MPs were suspended over their protests on the issue of Parliament security breach, leaving the Opposition benches almost empty.
“I do not expect PM Modi to act any differently inside Parliament from the way he has been doing for the last 10 years. He will be absent from Parliament, he will speak to the media on the first day outside Parliament House and avoid taking questions. He will not take any questions from the INDIA alliance inside the House, leaving his junior ministers to defend his image. There will not be any statement on NEET-UG or Agniveer or anything,” Gogoi told The Indian Express.
“I do not see Modi having the ability to take care of the concerns of different political parties in Parliament. He operates in an echo chamber. He is unwilling even to take his Cabinet into confidence,” added the Jorhat MP who was the Congress’s Deputy Leader of the House in the previous Lok Sabha.
Saying that the Congress, whose strength in the House has increased from 52 to 99, and its alliance partners are “emboldened” by the mandate, a party leader said, “The tables have turned. They have a defeated mode and we will enter Parliament victoriously.”
“The mahaul (atmosphere) is such that the Opposition is acting as if it has won 400 seats and we have won 240. And this attitude will get reflected in the House,” said a senior BJP leader.
Reaching out to non-NDA parties
Sources said Opposition leaders were in touch with non-NDA parties such as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) to take on the government on certain issues.
“There have been some overtures too,” said a source, pointing out that the Revanth Reddy government in Telangana earlier this week transferred an IAS officer a day after he authorised the demolition of two temporary sheds built on the pavement outside Jagan’s home in Hyderabad’s Jubilee Hills area.
For the first two days of the session, the new MPs will be administered the oath of office. The presidential address to the joint sitting of the two Houses is scheduled for Wednesday. The Speaker’s selection, or election if the government and the Opposition do not find themselves on the same page, is scheduled for Thursday. It will be followed by government business till July 3 during which a debate on the motion of thanks to the presidential address will take place.
During this debate, the government and the Opposition are expected to go head to head. “The Opposition, if they go for debate, can put the government on the mat on these issues. We will be on the defensive,” said a senior BJP leader.
Another senior BJP functionary said the cancellation of the UGC-NET examination and the police investigation in Bihar and Gujarat into the alleged leak of the NEET-UG question paper had put the government on the back foot. The issue has also brought about a sense of disquiet in the BJP and RSS affiliates, whose relationship has been under strain since the Lok Sabha elections.
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