Ahead of Union Budget, INDIA bloc ups ante over Lok Sabha deputy speaker post

NEW DELHI: The opposition INDIA bloc has upped the ante ahead of the Union Budget session scheduled to begin on July 22, with TMC leader and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien listing out demands before the NDA-led central government.
Calling running Parliament smoothly a government's duty, Derek O'Brien demanded that a deputy speaker post in Lok Sabha should be given to an MP belonging to the INDIA bloc fold.
The TMC leader said the government must allow one notice from the opposition weekly in each House (Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha) "to discuss issues of national importance".
Taking a dig at the government, Derek O'Brien said there should be no "bulldozing of Bills".

Backing Derek O'Brein's demands, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the "opposition leaders should be allowed to counter the pandemic of lies spread by non-biological PM".
"Couldn't agree more. I will only add: allow Opposition leaders especially the LoPs to counter the pandemic of lies spread by the non-biological PM and his drumbeaters," Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

Previously, in the first Parliament session after the Lok Sabha election, the deputy speaker post had become a flashpoint between the INDIA bloc and the ruling NDA.
The INDIA bloc had agreed to support the NDA's Speaker candidate but the talks failed as the deputy speaker post was not conceded to the opposition.
Later, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Kota, Om Birla and Congress's Kerala MP K Suresh filed their nomination papers for the top Lok Sabha post, making it a rare election which was witnessed after four decades.
In the Speaker election, Birla was elected for the second time by a voice vote.
Congress did not seek a division of votes reportedly in the wake of TMC's decision not to propose Suresh in protest against the grand old party's unilateral decision in choosing the opposition's Speaker candidate.