Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury named Congress leader in LS

Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was on Tuesday named as leader of Congress in Lok Sabha by UPA Chairperson and Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi.

According to top Congress sources, the letter nominating Chowdhury, an MP from West Bengal's Behrampur and a former Union Minister, as party leader in the lower house was sent to Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Chowdhury himself confirmed his nomination as the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha and said he would fulfil his responsibilities.

"We will raise our issues with priority. Number of MPs does not matter. I will fulfil my responsibility given to me by the party," Chowdhury told IANS.

One of the two Congress MPs from West Bengal and a former state party chief, he said that relations with the state's ruling Trinamool Congress are competetive at state level and the situation changes when it comes to national level, adding that the strategy would be formulated accordingly.

Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation for a meeting of Presidents of all political parties on Wednesday, he said that the decision will taken by the party.

The Congress is yet to announce the name of its chief whip.

After Sonia Gandhi was elected as the Chairperson of the CPP on June 1, party leaders had empowered her to name the party leader and the chief whip in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress is again set to lose the position of Leader of Opposition post in the lower house as it falls two seats short.

The Congress won 52 out of 542 seats. As per rules, the Congress needs one-tenth of the total seats (54) to lay claim for the Leader of the Opposition's post.

--IANS

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