Rahul Gandhi, 54, defied analyst expectations to help his Congress party nearly double its parliamentary numbers, its best result since Modi was swept to power a decade ago.
Gandhi is the scion of a dynasty that dominated Indian politics for decades and is the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, beginning with independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru.
Parliamentary regulations require the opposition leader to come from a party that commands at least 10 per cent of the lawmakers in the 543-seat lower house.
The post has been vacant for 10 years because two dismal election results for Congress – once India’s dominant party – left it short of that threshold.
LAWMAKERS ELECTED BEHIND BARS
Newly elected lawmakers will take their oaths over the first two days.
Many will be watching if two lawmakers elected from behind bars, bitter opponents of Modi, will be allowed to join.
One is the Sikh separatist Amritpal Singh, a firebrand preacher arrested last year after a month-long police manhunt in Punjab state.
The other is Sheikh Abdul Rashid, a former state legislator in Indian-administered Kashmir.
It is unclear if either will be granted bail to attend the ceremony in person.
Modi’s decade as premier has seen him cultivate an image as an aggressive champion of the country’s majority Hindu faith, worrying minorities including India’s 200-million-plus Muslim community.
But his BJP won only 240 seats in this year’s poll, 32 short of a majority in the lower house – its worst showing in a decade.
It has left the BJP reliant on a motley assortment of minor parties to govern.
Modi has kept key posts unchanged in this government and the Cabinet remains dominated by the BJP.
That includes BJP loyalists Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar – the defence, interior, transport, finance and foreign ministers, respectively – staying on in their jobs.
But out of his 71-member government, 11 posts went to coalition allies who extracted them in exchange for their support – including five in the top 30 Cabinet posts.
Many will also be eying the election of the speaker, a powerful post overseeing the running of the lower house, with lawmakers slated to vote on Wednesday.
Coalition allies covet the post, but others suggest Modi will put forward a candidate from the BJP.
For the first time, lawmakers took the oath in India’s new parliament building, a grand hexagonal legislature inaugurated last year.
The building was seen as the centrepiece of a remodelling of the heart of New Delhi by Modi aimed at ridding the Indian capital of the vestiges of British colonial rule.
Opposition parties boycotted the opening.
Source link : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/india-prime-minister-narendra-modi-calls-consensus-parliament-open-after-election-4431896
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Publish date : 2024-06-24 11:00:00
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