No Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly

Gandhinagar: Main opposition Congress party has failed to get the Leader of the Opposition in the State assembly due to a lack of numbers. Congress party even nationally for the last two terms has failed to get such status in the parliament.

Speaker Shankarbhai Chaudhary has in a decision refused the status of the Leader of Opposition to Congress’s legislative party chief Amit Chavda under 30(1) provision of the Gujarat assembly act. The opposition party requires at least 10 percent of MLAs in the assembly to get the status of Leader of the Opposition. Gujarat assembly has a strength of 182 MLAs. Congress would require 18+ MLAs at least to get the position of Leader of the Opposition. However, Congress’s strength is just 17 and therefore it fails to get the post.

It’s for the first time in Gujarat that there’s no Leader of Opposition in the State assembly. The post of the Leader of the Opposition is equal to the Cabinet minister in terms of perks and pay. The leader of the opposition is allotted a bungalow in the ministerial enclave. However, due to a lack of numbers, there’s no Leader of Opposition at present in the State. The only way out for Congress is to increase its number in the house if some by-polls take place in the coming five years. DeshGujarat

DeshGujarat