NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on June 20 said the Congress will decide on the appointment of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha as it has maximum seats among the INDIA bloc parties in the Lower House of Parliament.
Asked if efforts will be made to have the Lok Sabha's deputy speaker from the opposition, Mr. Pawar claimed this "rule" was not followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his last government.
"A discussion will take place on that point, but I do not think any fruitful outcome will be there from it," he said.
Mr. Pawar was speaking to reporters at Baramati in Maharashtra's Pune district.
The BJP won 240 seats in the recently held polls to the 543-member Lok Sabha and formed government with its partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Among the opposition INDIA bloc constituents, the Congress bagged the highest 99 seats.
Asked about the appointment of the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Pawar said, "Earlier, we had agreed that the position would go to the party with the highest seats. Today, the Congress has the maximum seats (among opposition parties) in the Lok Sabha, so they will decide who should hold the position."
"After the Congress decides, it will need the consent of our (INDIA) bloc," he said.
On the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi's (MVA) success in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, Mr. Pawar claimed people have lost confidence in PM Modi and that "Modi's guarantee" turned out to be fake.
"The people of the state came to a conclusion that the promises he made in the last five years were not kept," he said.
The MVA, which comprises the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) of Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (SP), bagged 30 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
The ruling Mahayuti, which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the NCP headed by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, got 17 seats.
