Cong unlikely to get post of LoP, says AG

Party has just 44 MPs, 11 less than the magic number

The Congress may not get the Leader of the Opposition post in the Lok Sabha if Speaker Sumitra Mahajan accepts the opinion of the Attorney General in this regard.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi is understood to have cited the General Directions of the first Lok Sabha Speaker G V Mavlankar to underscore the point that the post of the Leader of the Opposition should go to a party which has the strength required to complete the quorum in the Lower House.

In the 543-member Lok Sabha, a party needs to have 55 members – 10 per cent strength of the total membership of the House – to be recognised as the parliamentary party.

A parliamentary party can stake claim to the post of the Leader of the Opposition.

The Congress has 44 members in the Lok Sabha, 11 less than the magic number of 55.

Rohatgi is learnt to have cited instances when there was no Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress had fiercely contested that view and petitioned the Speaker demanding its “rightful due”.

Early July, the Congress had given a letter, signed by 60 members of the UPA, to the Speaker demanding the post of the Leader of the Opposition. The Speaker had sought the opinion of the Attorney General in this regard.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi had made a strong pitch for the post. “We are the single largest party and we have a pre-poll alliance. Hence, we are entitled to get the post of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha,” she had said.

However, the Congress was coming to terms with reality and was prepared to accept a negative decision from the Speaker.

A senior Congress leader had said the party would not move court in case the Speaker decides against recognising Mallikarjun Kharge as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

“We will react after the ruling of the Speaker,” Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed said. India got its first Leader of Opposition in 1969 in the fourth Lok Sabha –17 years after the first general election held in 1952.