File photo: Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath
Amid talk of price rise and the economy, the BJP and Congress are now engaged in a game of "who blinks first" on the post of Leader of Opposition or LoP in the Lok Sabha for the latter.
On Monday, a little before Parliament convened for the Budget Session, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge sounded nonchalant on the LoP controversy, saying the party was more focused on a discussion on the rise in price rises on day 1 of the session.
But his party colleague and the seniormost member of the Lok Sabha Kamal Nath has suggested in more than one television interview that the Congress could explore the option of going to court on the issue.
The BJP argues that the Congress, the largest Opposition party, technically does not qualify to have a Leader of Opposition with only 44 MPs - a party needs at least a tenth of the total House strength of 545, which is 55 MPs, to make the grade.
It also cites precedent from previous Nehru/Gandhi Congress regimes that did not have LoPs.
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.
But the government is acutely aware that while it has a big majority in the Lok Sabha, it is short on numbers in the Rajya Sabha and needs support there to push legislation. It might well look at leveraging the LoP's post to ensure the Congress' backing on bills.
For now, the government has said that the Speaker will decide on the issue. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said today that she would take a call only when approached on the matter.
"We know the Speaker is from the BJP... Speaker is appointed by a political party... when it is a contentious situation... It will be flavoured by the BJP and Modi," Mr Kamal Nath told a news channel.
Mr Naidu shot back at his predecessor, "Kamal Nath ji talking like this is condemnable. He must have spoken on the backdrop of his experience."