New Delhi: The Congress party has named party MP Gaurav Gogoi as the deputy leader and K Suresh as the Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha. Congress MPs Manickam Tagore and Md Jawaid will serve as whips of the party.
In this regard, a formal letter has been sent to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. Party MP KC Venugopal took to 'X' and provided information about the fresh appointments.
"Hon'ble CPP Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji has written to the Hon'ble Lok Sabha Speaker informing him about the appointment of the Deputy Leader, Chief Whip, and two Whips for the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha. Deputy Leader: Shri @GauravGogoiAsm, Chief Whip: Shri @kodikunnilMP, Whips: 1. Shri @manickamtagore and 2. @DrMdJawaid1. Congratulations to the new appointees," he wrote in a post on 'X.
Hon'ble CPP Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji has written to the Hon'ble Lok Sabha Speaker informing him about the appointment of the Deputy Leader, Chief Whip, and two Whips for the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha.
— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) July 14, 2024
Deputy Leader - Shri @GauravGogoiAsm
Chief Whip - Shri…
The Congress MP also expressed confidence that the party, along with its allies in the INDIA bloc, would champion the people's causes in the Lok Sabha. "Guided by LOP Shri @RahulGandhi ji, the Congress and INDIA parties will energetically champion the people's causes in the Lok Sabha," he added. Gaurav Gogoi represents Assam's Jorhat constituency in the 18th Lok Sabha. He was pitted against the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Topon Kumar Gogoi.
K Suresh is currently the longest-serving Lok Sabha MP, as he has remained MP for 29 years. Suresh was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989, and thereafter, he won consecutively in the 1991, 1996, and 1999 general elections to the Lok Sabha from the Adoor constituency for four straight terms. Suresh, who won his eighth Lok Sabha election from Mavelikkara (Kerala) in the 2024 general elections, has represented the seat four times in the past.
He is the working president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and was the chief whip of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the 17th Lok Sabha. The Mavelikkara MP was also nominated for the post of Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha. Later, the INDIA bloc decided to field him for the post of Speaker after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) refused to accept the opposition INDIA bloc's demand that the Deputy Speaker's position be left for the Opposition in exchange for its support for the NDA nominee.
However, the NDA, which commands 293 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha, was able to demonstrate its clear majority to ensure that Om Birla returns to the chair he held in the 17th Lok Sabha. Earlier, the INDIA bloc appointed Congress MP Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of Opposition (LoP), ending the 10-year spell of no LoP in the Lower House since 2014.
Lok Sabha did not have a Leader of Opposition in the last 10 years because no political party, other than the ruling party, was able to secure the minimum number of Lok Sabha seats required to nominate a Leader of the Opposition. In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, the Congress emerged as the second-largest party with 52 seats. This was three short of the requisite numbers. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress, again the second largest party, won 44 Lok Sabha seats -- way below the mark.
After the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls, the Congress emerged as the second-largest party in the election and improved its tally to 100, from 52 in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. The total tally of the INDIA bloc stood at 234.
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