Fresh from a drubbing at the hands of BJP in the Lok Sabha elections where it secured only 52 seats with a vote count of 12.3 crore, the Congress sought to gather itself and chose Sonia Gandhi as the party’s parliamentary leader on Saturday.
However, there was no word from the party as to who will be its leader in the Lok Sabha. The Congress, because of falling two seats short of the required 10 per cent seats (minimum requirement is 54 seats in the 542 member House) cannot stake claim for the Leader of Opposition.
“We will not stake claim to the Leader of Opposition post till we have the strength of 54 seats,” said Congress spokesperson, Randeep Singh Surjewala, adding that the onus also lies with the government if it wants to designate a party as principal Opposition.
In the 16th Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge had led the party in the Lower House but after his loss this time, the party will have to look for new voice to counter the treasury benches.
