Lok Sabha Speaker: Om Birla and K Suresh file nomination for NDA, INDIA bloc

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Om Birla on Tuesday filed his nomination for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker. He is the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)'s pick for the 18th Lok Sabha.
Meanwhile, Congress MP K Suresh also filed his nomination for the post of Speaker, representing Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc.
KC Venugopal and TR Baalu met with defence minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the Lok Sabha Speaker issue. Rajnath shared information about the NDA candidate for the Speaker post and sought support. Congress leader KC Venugopal, however, insisted on securing a commitment for the deputy Speaker's post in return for their support.
The defence minister suggested a combined discussion to finalise the deputy Speaker's name. Nonetheless, Venugopal and Baalu continued to press their demand for an immediate decision.
Union minister and JDU leader Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan Singh) said, "They want to run the democracy on the basis of conditions, they want to do politics of pressure. This doesn't happen in democracy. Om Birla has filed a nomination for the Speaker's post from our side."
Meanwhile, Union minister and BJP MP Piyush Goyal said, "In the morning, Rajnath Singh ji wanted to discuss with Mallikarjun Kharge ji but he was busy so he said that Venugopal ji would talk to you. But after speaking with TR Baalu and KC Venugopal ji, the old mentality that we will dictate the terms was shown again that the condition is that first decide who will be the deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha and then support will be given for the Speaker, we condemn this type of politics."