Instead of going into the technicalities, the Leader of Opposition post should have been given to the Congress, said former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi here on Saturday. “That would have symbolised the democratic respect for the Opposition,” he told The Hindu .
The former West Bengal Chief Minister B.C. Roy gave the Communist leader, Jyoti Basu, such enormous respect and had conferred him the LoP status when there were only two MLAs from the Communist party in the Assembly then, Mr. Gandhi said. Likewise, for the BJP, it would have done the government enormous good and the proceedings of the House would have gained in stature. Today, the Supreme Court had to intervene, which he hailed and said it was imperative that the new Lokpal take office without delay.
Had the government given the single largest party its due position ignoring the technicalities of the issue, it would have been a good gesture, Mr. Gandhi said.
On talks with Pakistan, he said: “Calling off talks is not going to help our interests. An unambiguous reassertion of our position at the talks with Pakistan would have been far better.”
