Senior BJP leaders and Union Ministers met at the residence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the strategy for the upcoming Parliament session, including the names of candidates for the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker.  The Session of the Rajya Sabha will commence on June 27 and the  Parliament Session will conclude on the 3rd of next month.

During the Session, oath and affirmation of newly elected members and election of Lok Sabha Speaker will take place. President Droupadi Murmu’s address to the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and discussion on her address will also be held in the Session.

Sources said the meeting was convened to discuss the strategy for the Parliament Session in the wake of aggressive posturing by the opposition led INDIA Bloc.

Among those who attended the meeting were Manohar Lal Khattar, Bhupender Yadav, Virendra Kumar, Piyush Goyal, Annapurna Devi, S jaishankar, JD(U)’s Lalan Singh, and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan. The election for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post will be held on June 26, two days after the beginning of the first Session of the Lower House.

Singh has been given the responsibility to build a consensus for the election of the Speaker’s post among alliance parties as well as Opposition parties. Menanwhile, the opposition INDIA Bloc is likely to field a candidate for the Speaker’s post if the Deputy Speaker’s post, as is the norm, is not given to them. It is learnt that BJP wants to name key leaders from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha — D Purandeshwari and Bhatruhari Mahtab — two States the party-led NDA swept in this round of elections — as a ‘thank you’ to the State units.

BJP MP Om Birla presently holds the post of Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament.

The Speaker of the Lok Sabha has always been elected without any contest since Independence. So, if the Opposition INDIA bloc forces an election for the Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha on June 26, it would be the first such instance in the history of Independent India as the person to assume the crucial chair in the Lower House of the Parliament has always been chosen by a consensus between the ruling and opposition parties or alliances.

Meanwhile, a separate meeting of the Maharashtra BJP core group was also held at the party headquarters to discuss the party’s strategy for the assembly polls, due to be held in the state later this year, sources said. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, party state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Ashish Shelar, MP Ashok Chavan, minister Girish Mahajan and other leaders are expected to attend the meeting, which will be presided over by BJP chief JP Nadda. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also present at the meeting.