As if a crushing defeat in the Gujarat assembly elections wasn’t enough, a bruised and battered Congress is also likely to lose the post of the Leader of Opposition in the state.
Gujarat’s assembly has 182 seats and a party needs at least 10 per cent of these to send a Leader of Opposition, or LoP. The Congress, with its worst-ever tally of 17 in the state, fails to qualify. The Aam Aadmi Party with 5 seats is further behind and also out of the reckoning.
The Congress had in fact attempted to make Mallikarjun Kharge, recently elected its president, the LoP but was denied by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, citing the rules.
This was a seeming twist of fate as back in 1980 and 1984, the Congress had refused the Leader of Opposition post to rival parties after it won massive mandates in general elections.
With inputs from News18
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