Who will be the LS Speaker? Modi 3.0 ‘kingmakers’ JD(U), TDP differ on key issue

Days after the Opposition’s INDIA bloc insisted that the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post must be allocated to the BJP’s National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners, the Janata Dal (United) and the Telugu Desam Party appear to have different opinions on the vexed topic. While Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) said it will back the BJP’s decision, N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP said the partners of the ruling alliance must finalise a consensus candidate.
Janata Dal (United) leader KC Tyagi said on Saturday that JD(U) and the TDP are NDA allies, and they will support the candidate nominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“JDU (Janata Dal-United) and TDP (Telugu Desam Party) are strongly in NDA. We will support the person nominated (for Speaker) by the BJP,” Tyagi told ANI.
TDP national spokesperson Pattabhi Ram Kommareddy, on the other hand, told The Indian Express that the candidate must be jointly decided by NDA partners.
“The NDA partners will sit together and decide who our candidate for the Speaker is going to be. Once a consensus is reached, we will field that candidate and all partners, including the TDP, will support the candidate,” he told the newspaper.
The BJP won 240 Lok Sabha seats in the Lok Sabha – 32 short of the majority mark. With 16 and 12 Lok Sabha seats, N Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar emerged as the kingmakers as they became indispensable for the formation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third government.
AAP, an INDIA bloc ally, said earlier this month that the post must be allocated to either JD(U) or TDP.
Also read: ‘Leftovers’: INDIA bloc takes potshots at BJP allies after portfolio allocation
Senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot claimed if the BJP gets the Speaker’s post, it will start horse-trading of JD(U) and TDP MPs.
“Not just TDP and JD(U), but the people of the entire country are eagerly watching the election to the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker. If BJP does not have the intention to do anything undemocratic in the future, it should give the Speaker’s post to one of its allies,” Gehlot said in Hindi on ‘X’.
“Now if the BJP keeps the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker with itself, the TDP and JD(U) should be ready to see horse-trading of their MPs,” he added.
BJP’s NDA partners got several berths in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet. However, all the plum posts were allocated to BJP MPs, the largest NDA partner.
Several INDIA bloc leaders claimed the BJP handed over “jhunjhuna” to its allies.
The election for the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker will be held on June 26.
With inputs from ANI