Suspense over LS speaker post: NDA meeting at Rajnath Singh's residence today, PM Modi to propose name on June 26

Amid suspense over Lok Sabha speaker post, a meeting of senior leaders of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will be held at 5 pm on Tuesday at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's residence. In this meeting, Lok Sabha Speaker and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker will meet the senior ministers, India Today reported citing sources. 

Many ministers of the NDA including JP Nadda, Ashwani Vaishnaw, Kiren Rijiju, Rammohan Naidu, Chirag Paswan and Lalan Singh will be present at the meeting. Before the meeting at Singh's residence, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda met the sitting Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla at his residence.

The BJP has given Rajnath Singh the responsibility to arrive at a consensus on the posts of the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker with NDA allies and opposition parties. The Opposition INDIA bloc are likely to field a candidate for the Speaker's post if the Deputy Speaker's post is not given to them. 

Regarding the post of Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker, Senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said that it has always been a tradition that the post of the Speaker will be with the ruling party and the post of Deputy Speaker will be with the opposition. 

He added that the importance of parliamentary tradition is no less than the Constitution itself and that the BJP should follow parliamentary tradition. 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will propose the name of NDA's candidate for Lok Sabha Speaker on June 26. Modi will introduce the Cabinet of Ministers to the Parliament after the election of the Lok Sabha Speaker, sources said. 

The special session of the Parliament will begin on June 24, with the election of Lok Sabha's Speaker and Deputy Speaker being on top of the agenda. The Lok Sabha will begin the proceedings to elect its new Speaker on June 26.

While N Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) emphasised the need for NDA partners to arrive at a consensus, Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) has said they will support the BJP's choice. 

Senior JD(U) leader KC Tyagi said, "The Speaker is always of the ruling party because its number is also the highest (among alliance parties)." The BJP has 240 MPs whereas JDU has 12 and TDP 16. He also rejected claims that if the BJP gets its Speaker, it will break the JDU, TDP and Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).