Letters: The Opposition question

The Congress is reported to be insisting that its leader in the Lok Sabha should be recognised as the Leader of Opposition, although it does not meet the criterion of having 55 seats. Conceding its demand will be a bad precedent. The Lok Sabha had functioned without a Leader of Opposition between 1980 and 1989 under similar circumstances. One solution to the problem is that, at the discretion of the Speaker, the leader of the single-largest party in the Opposition could be associated with important committees like those for the selection of the chief vigilance commissioner. But it would not entitle him to the status of a Cabinet minister with the attendant privileges.

Any recognition of the Congress for the position could lead to a public interest litigation, resulting in unnecessary and unhealthy confrontation between the legislature and the judiciary. The Congress should ask itself what its stand would be if the it ever swapped roles with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the future.

A Seshan Mumbai

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