Rijiju attacks Congress for ‘misleading campaign’ on pro-tem speaker

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday hit back at the Congress for launching “misleading campaign” on pro-tem Lok Sabha speaker issue and defended the government’s choice of selecting BJP leader Bhartruhari Mahtab on the pretext that he has the longest uninterrupted tenure as the member of Lower House.

The Union Minister rejected the Congress’ attempt to pitch Kerala MP Kodikunnil Suresh as the protem speaker on the grounds that he did not have uninterrupted tenure in the Lok Sabha though he was an eight-term MP.

Kodikunnil Suresh was not an MP in 1998 and 2004, asserted Rijiju at a press conference convened to clarify political controversy over President Droupadi Murmu’s decision on Thursday to appoint Odisha leader Mahtab, who switched from the BJD to BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls, as pro-tem speaker.

The pro-tem speaker will administer oath of office to the newly elected MPs when the parliament session begins from June 24. Later, a permanent speaker will be selected for conducting the business of the House for the entire five year term of the NDA government. In this too, the BJP is trying to have its own leader as the Speaker.

The Congress had charged the BJP-led NDA government of “destroying parliamentary norms” by ignoring the claim of Suresh to the post. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister, however, cited a Supreme Court order of 2018 to insist that the convention of senior-most parliamentarian being appointed protem speaker had no “legal force”.

“Do you think such an argument is even valid,” Rijiju replied to a query on Congress’ charge that their MP Suresh was not considered for the august post just because he was a Dalit. In fact, the BJP had made its MP Virender Kumar, also a Dalit leader, protem speaker in 2019.

He alleged that Congress leaders are “spreading lies” and making “misleading statements” on the issue.

“We expected the Parliament proceedings to start on a good note. But, even before the start of the first session of the Parliament, Congress resorted to spreading lies and misleading everyone through social media posts,” the Union Minister told reporters.

Referring to past instances, Rijiju said the UPA government had side stepped the seniority principle in 2004 by appointing the then eight-term MP Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil as the pro-tem speaker. At that time, the opportunity for nine-term Lok Sabha MP George Fernandes was scuttled, he added.

Similarly, he recalled claims of PM Sayeed and Giridhar Gamang to the post of pro-tem speaker were not accepted by the Congress on previous occasions.

In Thiruvananthapuram, Suresh told media that the “BJP will continue to bypass Parliamentary procedures as it did the last two times” by not making him pro-tem speaker this time. “My name was recommended by the LS secretariat. But when the Centre sent its recommendation to the President, my name was avoided,” Congress MP from Mavelikkara constituency claimed.

According to him, Maneka Gandhi, who was an eight-term BJP MP, was eligible to become the protem speaker, but she did not show interest because she was not made a Union minister. “After her, the senior most MPs were myself and BJP’s Veerendra Kumar. But, Kumar was chosen to be protem speaker. This time too, Kumar and I were the senior most MPs. He was made a Cabinet minister and therefore, automatically, as per LS rules, procedures and conventions, I should have been made pro-tem speaker,” he stressed.