Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday lashed out at the Congress for politicising the appointment of Lok Sabha pro-tem speaker. Rijiju said that the conventions were followed while selecting BJP leader Bhartruhari Mahtab, who has the longest uninterrupted tenure as a Lok Sabha member.
Mahtab was appointed by President Droupadi Murmu as the pro-tem speaker on Thursday. He was a seven-term Lok Sabha MP from Odisha. As the pro-tem speaker, he will be administering oaths to the newly elected members of the LS.
After Mahtab’s name was announced, Congress accused the Narendra Modi-led government of "destroying parliamentary norms" by ignoring the claim of Suresh, an eight-term Lok Sabha MP, to the post.
Reacting to the Congress’s allegations, Rijiju said that the party is “misleading” and “lying” to the people.
"Voters have rejected the Congress thrice, but still the party has not learnt its lessons. It is the decision of the people to keep you in the opposition, but Congress wants to run the government by force. We will not give in to such pressure," Rijiju said.
Rijiju also added that Suresh was not a member of the LS in 1998 and 2004, though he was an eight-term MP. Since he did not have an uninterrupted LS tenure, his seniority for the post could not be considered.
When asked about Congress’s claim whether him being Dalit was the reason to ignore him, Rijiju said "Do you think such an argument is even valid?"
The minister also said that he spoke to Suresh and he was happy to be nominated on the panel of chairpersons.
"We expected the Parliament proceedings to start on a good note. But, even before the start of the first session of the Parliament, Congress resorted to spreading lies and misleading everyone through social media posts," Rijiju said.
By citing a Supreme Court order of 2018, Rijiju said that the convention of senior-most lawmaker being appointed as pro-tem speaker had no "legal force".
"I have to say with great regret that I feel ashamed that the Congress party has talked like this. First of all, they created an issue about the pro-tem speaker. This post of pro-tem speaker is very temporary. They play their role till the election of the new speaker. They do not have to do any business transaction," Rijiju said.
(With PTI inputs)