Hope for impartiality, say TMC, DMK on Birla being elected LS Speaker

Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay and DMK leader T R Baalu on Wednesday congratulated Om Birla for being elected speaker of the Lok Sabha for a second term and hoped he would be impartial towards the opposition. Bandyopadhyay said the functioning of the House always depends on the attitude of the treasury benches and the House belongs to the opposition.

"It is my firm belief and so far parliamentary democratic practice is concerned, the House belongs to the opposition. This attitude needs to be adopted by the ruling party," he said.

He mentioned the suspension of opposition MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha and said it was "not desirable".


He also said while Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned several bills being passed, many were passed without any debate.

DMK's Baalu said that now that Birla is the Speaker, he does not belong to any party anymore.

"You might have been elected by my BJP friends (but) hereafter there is no politics between you and the powers. You don't have any colour also. You have to treat the opposition and the ruling party in the same manner. Kindly be impartial," he said.