Speaker fight: TMC keeps INDIA on edge, says ‘not consulted’, ‘could have given names’

Claiming had not been“consulted”, the Trinamool Congress Tuesday kept the Congress on the tenterhooks over supporting the INDIA candidate for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post. The Congress, however, claimed it had placed a call to the TMC before announcing that its MP Kodikunil Suresh would take on the BJP’s Om Birla for the Speaker’s post.

The election for the next Lok Sabha Speaker is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, with INDIA fielding Suresh after the NDA renominated Birla, who was the Speaker in the 17th Lok Sabha. The Congress had earlier pushed for Suresh to be named pro-term Speaker, as he was the senior-most member in the Lok Sabha.

After Suresh filed his nomination for the Speaker’s post around noon, TMC leaders suggested that the party had not been consulted before the Congress arrived at the decision and made the announcement – thus putting a question mark on whether the TMC would vote for Suresh on Wednesday as part of the INDIA bloc.

Taking a dig at senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, a senior TMC leader said: “We won 29 seats on our own in West Bengal… we were not a part of the INDIA alliance then. So Rahul Gandhi shouldn’t have made a khata khat announcement, without consulting us. We are not here to toe the line after you have made a decision.”

The TMC is reportedly not in favour of contesting the Speaker’s post, as it believes it will underline the Opposition’s inadequate numbers and expose chinks in the INDIA armour.

Incidentally, it’s not just INDIA that is hoping to get the TMC’s support. The NDA, too, is learnt to have reached out to Mamata. Sources said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called Mamata on Tuesday afternoon and discussed the issue with her. “The two spoke about the issue of the Speaker and