BJP open to offering deputy speaker's post to friendly party

The BJP is open to offering the post of deputy speaker in the Lok Sabha to a friendly party but it has not taken a final decision on the matter, sources said Wednesday.

The saffron party is likely to finalise its decision next week when the first Parliament session begins from June 17 after the Modi government assumed charge for the second time.

There have been reports that the BJP may offer the deputy speaker's position to the YSR Congress or the BJD, two parties which are not members of the ruling National Democratic Alliance but are seen to be favourably disposed to it.

The YSR Congress, which has stormed to power in Andhra Pradesh under Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, and the BJD, whose president Naveen Patnaik has led the party to victory in the recent Odisha assembly polls for a fifth straight term, have studiously refrained from joining the opposition camp.

The Shiv Sena, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has also staked its claim on the post.

The BJP has refrained from making any official comment on the matter.

The ruling party had given the key Lok Sabha post to the AIADMK in 2014 when the Dravidian party had emerged as the third largest parliamentary group in the Lok Sabha after the BJP and the Congress.

The Dravidian party was decimated in the recent Lok Sabha polls and won only one seat.

The YSR Congress has won 22 seats, while the BJP's allies Sena and JD(U) have bagged 18 and 16 seats respectively. The Biju Janata Dal has won 12 seats.

Two other big parties in the House are Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which has 23 MPs, and the Trinamool Congress, which has 22.

Both the DMK and the TMC have been stridently against the BJP-led NDA.