Rahul : Leader of Opposition!

The Congress party is in a complete quandary. The top-ranking leadership does not know what to do in the circumstances where its President Rahul Gandhi is not ready to withdraw his resignation and has gone off for a holiday. There is a debate whether the party should take help of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sharad Pawar to increase its tally in Lok Sabha by allowing the merger of NCP in the Congress. The Congress has 52 and NCP has 4 members of Parliament. A total of 56 members constitutes 10 per cent strength of the Lok Sabha and enables a legitimate claim to be Leader of the Opposition. If this materialises, then Congress Parliamentary Party leader Rahul Ganhi will have the status of Leader of Opposition (LOP), which has a status of a Cabinet Minister. Sources disclosed that the experienced Maratha politician Pawar met Rahul Gandhi with the merger suggestion. The Leader of Opposition is a constitutional post and it enables the political party to constitutionally participate in decisions of the government and is a member of selection committees for posts in CBI, Supreme Court etc. Even otherwise, the government is duty bound to consult the LoP on many issues. Insiders reveal there is pressure on Sharad Pawar not to move ahead with the merger plan. Work on cases related to Praful Patel and the Air India issue has been speeded by the Enforcement Directorate. Additionally, the case of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s husband, Robert Vadra, is already in pipeline. Let us see what Rahul Gandhi decides.