BJP offers Lok Sabha deputy speaker post to YSRCP, Jagan to soon take call

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party MP and spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao on Tuesday met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSRCP president JaganMohan Reddy. During the meeting, the BJP leader had reportedly offered the post of deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha to one of his party’s 22 MPs.

According to a report published in the Times of India, the Andhra chief minister has neither denied nor accepted the offer yet. He had reportedly sought time to take a decision as a tie-up with the right-wing party may dent his Muslim and Christian vote bank.

Although the meeting between Jagan and Rao was termed a courtesy call, the report citing sources claimed that the BJP leader had come with the deputy speaker post offer from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.

The Andhra chief minister is likely to discuss the offer with his party’s senior leaders and then take a call. Jagan’s party YSRCP had won 22 of the 25 seats of Andhra Pradesh in the recent Lok Sabha elections. His party also registered a landslide victory in Legislative Assembly elections, held alongside the national elections.

Soon after the landslide victory, Jagan visited Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi before taking oath as the new chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. He is likely to visit Delhi again on June 15 to take part in a NITI Ayog meeting.

During the visit, he is also likely to meet Modi where the two leaders are likely to discuss the offer. The Lok Sabha is scheduled to meet on June 17 and the elections for the speaker and deputy speaker of the lower house will take place soon after newly elected MPs take oath.