The 18th Lok Sabha's first session is set to commence on June 24, leading up to the critical selection of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker on June 26. The BJP has proactively engaged with allies in the National Democratic Alliance to forge a common stance on the Speaker's candidacy and is open to recommendations. No names have been proposed by the NDA constituents yet, placing the decision in the BJP's court. They've iterated their support for Prime Minister Modi's impending decision. Home Minister Rajnath Singh has been tasked with the significant duty of establishing consensus among the ruling coalition and the opposition for the Speaker election.
A crucial meeting of BJP allies took place at Singh’s New Delhi residence on Tuesday evening. Leaders from LJP, including Chirag Paswan, JD(U)’s Rajiv Ranjan Singh, also known as Lalan Singh, Dr. Virendra Kumar, TDP MP and Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, as well as BJP ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, S. Jaishankar, Manohar Lal Khattar, Piyush Goyal, Bhupender Yadav, and Annapurna Devi, participated. The assembly of NDA allies discussed the upcoming session and the presidential address slated for June 24. Meanwhile, the opposing India alliance has indicated they might propose their candidate for the Speaker position if not granted the Deputy Speaker role in the Lok Sabha.
Om Birla, the BJP Member of Parliament from Kota, Rajasthan, presently holds the Lok Sabha Speaker office. He was chosen for the role in June 2019 following a motion by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 17th Lok Sabha. The Janata Dal (United) led by Nitish Kumar has expressed their intent to support the BJP-preferred nominee for the Speaker. It’s notable that JD(U) and Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP), both part of the BJP-led NDA, play pivotal roles in reaching the majority benchmark.
In the recent general elections, the BJP lagged behind by 32 seats from the majority mark with 240 seats. TDP and JD(U), integral constituents of the NDA, secured 16 and 12 Lok Sabha seats respectively. Thus, Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar have emerged as ‘kingmakers’ in the formation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third administration. National spokesperson for TDP, Pattabhi Ram Kommareddy, has stated that the selection for the Lok Sabha Speaker will be a collaborative decision by the NDA allies. JD(U) leader KC Tyagi hinted that his party would back the candidate nominated by the BJP.
