Kamal Nath to be protem speaker, says Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu
New Delhi: Former Parliamentary Affairs Minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath will be the Protem Speaker in the new Lok Sabha. The government has conveyed the recommendation to appoint Nath, who is the senior most member of the Lower House, to President Pranab Mukherjee, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters on Wednesday.
The Protem Speaker performs the duties of the office of the Speaker from the commencement of the sitting of the Lok Sabha till the election of the Speaker.
Nath, who was Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs in the last government, won from his pocket borough of Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh for the ninth term.
The name of Nath is also doing rounds in Congress circles for the post of the Leader of the Opposition.
The government will go the "extra mile" to accommodate the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Wednesday, but steered clear of questions on the issue of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
"We have not discussed the issue. I have no comments to offer," he told reporters after taking charge of the ministry at Parliament House when asked whether Congress, which lacks the requisite numbers in the Lok Sabha, will get the post of the Leader of the Opposition.
Congress has secured just 44 seats in the Lok Sabha, 11 less than one tenth of the strength of the 543-member House required to get the post. The Speaker has the discretion to decide on the issue.
Naidu, flanked by Ministers of State for Parliamentary Affairs Santosh Gangwar and Prakash Javadekar, said that he was committed to the "3-D" formula for smooth running of Parliament--debate, discuss and decide.
"Not 4 D," he remarked in an obvious reference to “disruption" which was the order of the day in the last Lok Sabha in which BJP was in the opposition and which saw even a full session being a virtual wash out on the issue of JPC on the 2G spectrum scam.
"I am not blaming anybody. People also want to have a proper debate in both Houses...Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committee for debate on any issue of public importance....We are ready to go the extra mile to accommodate the opposition as far as debate and discussion is concerned," he said.
