BJP may prefer Cong as main opposition in LS

The BJP-led NDA prefers to have a mem­ber of the Congress as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha to avoid the Narenda Modi government getting into a direct confrontation with three regional players who may form a bloc and stake a claim for the august post. BJP leaders argue they might need the support of the AIADMK, BJD and the TMC, who are trying to form an alliance to outsmart the Congress in the race for the post, for building consensus to push through legislations in the Upper House. That is the reason the NDA would like to avoid a confrontationist approach with the regional satraps. A BJP leader said it would be politically expedient to face a demoralised and depleted Congress that has been reduced to a historic low in the just concluded polls, than taking on the state chief ministers. The three regional parties that withstood the Narendra Modi wave in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha together can form a bloc of 91 seats. The Congress has 44 MPs in LS and with UPA allies, the tally goes up to 58. The move, first mooted by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, during campaigning, to get on board her Tamil Nadu counterpart Jayalalitha, had drawn sharp reaction from Narendra Modi. The prime minister designate had said in Varanasi that parties outside the ruling coalition may have to form an alliance to get the formal status of a recognised Opposition leader. Former UPA law minister M Veerappa Moily on Wednesday stressed that the Congress is entitled to get the LoP slot by law which states that a party in the opposition with the maximum number of MPs is eligible to stake claim. Deccan Herald