Rajya Sabha member and senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday said that the Leader of Opposition position should be allotted to the Congress party in the Lok Sabha.
Singhvi also said there is no rule of having minimum 10 per cent MPs in the Lower House for the party a get the Leader of Opposition’s position. The Congress party is currently short of two MPs to meet the 10 per cent norm.
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Talking to ANI, Singhvi said: “Regarding the Leader of Opposition (LoP) status in the Parliament, nowhere it says that if a party’s strength is 10 per cent of the total number of seats in the House, only then a party will be granted the LoP status. There is no such bar by an executive order.”
Detailing further on the issue, he said: “An Act to deal with salary and allowances of Lok Sabha enacted in 1977 only mentions the single largest party as the opposition party and nowhere mentions 10 per cent to be the criterion for the same. The rule that the party with a minimum of 10 per cent representation should get the status of LoP has no statutory validity.”
Singhvi said: “The 10 per cent minimum strength for LoP in the Parliament is only a convention and can be challenged legally.”
When asked that the Congress also denied BJP the position of LoP in 1984 citing party’s low strength, he said: “It should have been challenged even then, but that does not mean that it should not be challenged now.”
Singhvi, however, hastened to clarify that this was his personal view and not that of the party.
“I will discuss this in the party and will seek permission to go ahead in the matter. I may also approach the court as an individual. However, I am yet to take a decision on this regard,” Singhvi said.
On Saturday, Congress leader K Suresh had said that his party would claim for the LoP and Deputy Speaker posts, even as spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala maintained that they don’t have the required numbers to ask for the LoP position in the Lok Sabha.
(With Agency Inputs)