Pro-Tem Speaker Row: Congress Not to Assist During Oath-Taking of MPs

New Delhi: After seventh-term BJP MP Bhratruhari Mehtab was appointed as pro-tem Speaker, instead of Congress leader K Suresh, who is an eighth-term MP, the MPs of the India bloc have decided not to sit on the speaker's chair to assist the pro-tem Speaker during the oath-taking ceremony of MPs, sources said.

According to the sources, Congress and India Bloc parties are upset with the fact that tradition has been broken as Mehtab was made the Protem Speaker instead of the 8-time Congress MP K Suresh.

The Congress has reacted sharply to the central government's decision to appoint Mahtab as Pro-tem Speaker of Lok Sabha over senior-most Dalit MP Kodikkunnil Suresh of Congress, saying that the appointment by the BJP deviates from the traditional practice of appointing the senior member. Congress leader K Suresh said that there is an eighth-term MP in the House, but a seventh-term MP has been appointed as pro-tem Speaker.

"We are claiming that an eighth-term MP should be the pro-tem Speaker...They have done wrong, and now the whole country is criticising the decision of the BJP government," K Suresh said.

Congress MP Hibi Eden said that the NDA government has violated all the traditions and customs.

The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha will witness the oath-taking ceremony of newly-elected Members of Parliament, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

President Droupadi Murmu will administer the oath to Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Bhartruhari Mahtab as the pro-tem Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Mahtab will then call upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Leader of the Lok Sabha, to take oath as a member of the House.

On June 26, the Lok Sabha Speaker will be elected.

On June 27, President Murmu is scheduled to address the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament.

(ANI)