New Delhi, March 29: With the Congress planning to bring a no confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday, he could become the third Speaker to face such a motion after G.V. Mavalankar and Balram Jakhar. All the three share a common factor that they headed the Lower House when the treasury benches had a brute majority.
Congress sources said that they are consulting like minded allies on the issue while the party MPs have already started signing the petition for the move.
On Wednesday papers were hurled at the Lok Sabha Speaker’s chair when Congress MPs were protesting against Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification.
The first resolution against the Speaker was brought in 1954 when G.V. Mavalankar was the Speaker and Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister. In 1987, it was against Speaker Balram Jakhar. Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister and the resolution was moved by Somnath Chatterjee. In both the cases the Deputy Speaker presided over the House but in the current Lok Sabha there is no Deputy Speaker.
Both the resolutions were defeated in the House. The opposition is now mulling to bring a no confidence motion against Speaker Om Birla for ‘not allowing their leaders to speak in the Lower House’ and for not accepting any adjournment notice, sources said.
The opposition is miffed with the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and alleged that the decision has been taken in haste.
The opposition is likely to bring the no confidence motion coming Monday and the signatures of MPs are being taken. The idea was mooted during an opposition meeting.
Gandhi was disqualified as a MP 24 hours after being convicted by a Surat court on Friday.
The Surat district court in Gujarat on March 23 convicted the Congress MP in a criminal defamation case over his alleged ‘Modi surname’ remark in 2019.
He was convicted under Indian Penal Code sections 499 and 500. The maximum punishment under this section is two years.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi had filed the case against Rahul Gandhi for his alleged “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname…” remark.
