Amid clamour for Rahul Gandhi to accept the post of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Congress will today decide who will lead the party’s MPs in the Parliament.
Rahul Gandhi is being credited for the party winning 99 seats in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. Per his party’s members, his two yatras made the difference.
The Congress had won just 52 seats in the 2019 general elections.
“In the CWC meeting, we are going to review the performance of the Congress party in the 2024 elections. In the CPP meeting scheduled at 5:30 pm, the Congress party will elect the CPP chairperson… For the Congress’ leader in the Lok Sabha, we all feel Rahul Gandhi should be given charge. If he accepts this role, he will be LoP leading the 234 INDIA bloc MPs… We all know BJP has lost the majority as the single largest party in the previous Lok Sabha… Their dependence on Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar is the only way they can form the government… INDIA alliance leaders have decided to wait and watch and we will take a decision at the right time,” said Congress leader Manickam Tagore.
According to ANI, it is likely that Sonia Gandhi will be re-elected as the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP).
There will be clamour for Rahul Gandhi, who won the Lok Sabha polls from both Wayanad and Raebareli, to accept the post.
The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Party is empowered to name the leaders of the party in the two Houses of Parliament.
Earlier, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was LOP in the Lok Sabha. However, the party will need his replacement because he lost the polls to TMC’s Yusuf Pathan.
The decision on the Leader of Opposition could be taken later.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge is the Leader of Opposition in the upper house of the Parliament.
Congress MP Dean Kuriakose also made the demand.
“Parliamentary party will select one leader today. We are expecting Rahul Gandhi to be the Parliamentary Party Leader. We have a good number now. We will form a good opposition. We will fight against BJP. There is mandate against BJP, it is very true. India is against Narendra Modi. Let’s see what happens,” he added.
The INDIA bloc won 234 seats, limiting the BJP tally to just 240.
The lower number of seats will force Narendra Modi to depend on Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu’s support.
With inputs from ANI, PTI
