The Congress must be assigned the right to nominate the Leader of the Opposition, party president Sonia Gandhi today told reporters in Parliament today. (File photo)
The Congress must be assigned the right to nominate the Leader of the Opposition, party president Sonia Gandhi today told reporters in Parliament. "We are the single largest (opposition) party and we have a pre-poll alliance. We are entitled to the post," she asserted.
However, Mrs Gandhi, 67, was non-committal about whether her party would go to court over the issue.
The Congress, with 44 members, is the second-largest party in the Lok Sabha. However, it falls short of the 10 percent mark - 55 members in the 545-member house - which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has cited as a pre-requisite for conferring Leader of Opposition status to the Congress' leader in the Lok Sabha.
Kamal Nath, the senior-most parliamentarian from the Congress, said that the party has sent a letter today to Sumitra Mahajan, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, making its case. He said nearly 60 MPs, including some from Congress allies, are signatories.
Sources said the BJP has sounded out other Opposition parties on the issue. Parties like J Jayalalithaa's AIADMK and Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress are not very far behind the Congress on numbers and there has been talk that as a bloc they could counter the Congress' claim. (
Digvijaya Singh Wants Laws Amended as Congress Seeks Leader of Opposition's Post in Lok Sabha)
The Leader of the Opposition is meant to feature in several important committees that select, among others, important appointees like the Lokpal (anti-graft national ombudsman) and the chief vigilance commissioner.
The government is acutely aware that while it has a big majority in the Lok Sabha, it is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha and needs support there from other parties to push through key legislation. It might well look at leveraging the Leader of Opposition's post to ensure the Congress' backing on bills.