Cong may not get LOP in Parliament: Joshi

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi almost ruled out giving Leader of Opposition (LOP) in parliament position to Congress. “We will follow the rules,” he said.

Speaking to media persons here on Saturday, he said Congress does not have required numbers in parliament, so we will follow the rules book in this regard. Congress, which is the single largest opposition party, has 52 seats in parliament, while the minimum requirement to get the privileges of LOP is 54 (10% of the total seats in parliament).

Intellectual bankruptcy

Joshi charged that Congress party has plunged into intellectual bankruptcy after the Lok Sabha defeat, as they have repeatedly taking U-turn on the issue of Triple Talaq. He asked the Congress to make its stand clear on the issue and state if they are in favour of women empowerment or otherwise. “Triple talaq is not a religious issue. It is more about gender equality. While in Hindus a marriage gets nullified after court proceedings, a Muslim woman suffers injustice instantaneously,” he said and added that the government completed its formality by re-introducing the bill after coming back to power.

“What use will be the Supreme Court verdict, if the parliament does not frame laws that will empower women. Even after apex court’s verdict, there have been hundreds of triple talaq cases registered,” he said and added that the bill was introduced in parliament after great consultation with Muslim women.

One time election

Joshi said ‘One nation one election’ is not a personal agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and political agenda of BJP and NDA. The push for one-time election is being taken up in the interest of the nation. Due to elections to various States at different point of time, the Union government is not even getting two-and-half years of time to implement schemes and policies. The political parties also should consider minimising the financial burden of conducting multiple elections, he said.

“BJP is clear that ‘One nation one election’ may not happen by 2024. But, that does not mean that opposition parties should not discuss the merits and demerits of this idea. If there are changes required, our party is willing to consider them with an open mind,” he said and added that of the 40 parties that were invited for a meeting in this regard, which was chaired by Modi, 21 parties attended it and few of them were in favour of the idea, while others, including Congress and CPI(M), weren’t.