Kiren Rijiju Criticizes Congress Over Deputy Speaker Demand

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju criticized the Congress party for demanding the Deputy Speaker post in exchange for supporting the Lok Sabha Speaker election. Rijiju emphasized the importance of electing the Speaker unanimously and without conditions.

Speaking to reporters, Rijiju said, “For the last two days, we have contacted the major opposition parties and we have talked about the post of Speaker. Since the country became independent, there has never been an election of the Speaker, and we want the Speaker to be elected unanimously and unopposed, so we contacted and appealed to them.”

Rijiju informed that during a meeting with Congress leaders, they agreed to support the Speaker election but wanted the Deputy Speaker post in return. Rijiju explained that the election processes for both posts are different and should not be combined.

He criticized Congress for breaking tradition and putting conditions on the Speaker post. Rijiju said, “The tradition has been that the Speaker is elected unanimously and that has been a practice. Let us not break convention and tradition and putting conditions on the Speaker post itself is wrong. I once again appeal to the Congress party to follow tradition and convention and let us elect the new speaker of Lok Sabha unanimously.”

Rijiju urged Congress to support the Speaker election first, promising to discuss the Deputy Speaker post afterward. He added, “We have the numbers but still, we are requesting that there be no election for the post of Speaker because this post does not belong to any party.”

Earlier, the INDIA bloc’s Kodikunnil Suresh and NDA candidate Om Birla filed their nominations for the Speaker post, leading to the first election for the position. The Lok Sabha Speaker election will take place on June 26, with President Murmu addressing Parliament on June 27.