Clamour likely at Congress Parliamentary Party meeting for Rahul Gandhi to take over as Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha

By Siddharth Sharma
New Delhi [India], June 7 : Sonia Gandhi is likely to be re-elected as Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) at a meeting of party MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Saturday evening.
With Congress to decide the name of its leader in Lok Sabha, there would be a clamour for party leader Rahul Gandhi to assume the key role, party sources said. Rahul Gandhi won Lok Sabha polls from both Wayanad and Raebareli.
The sources said party MPs including KC Venugopal, Manickam Tagore and Gaurav Gogoi are expected to make the demand by raising their hands.
The leader of Congress in Lok Sabha will also be Leader of Opposition in the House as the party has won the requisite number of seats in general elections.
According to the Congress Constitution, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Party is empowered to name the leaders of the party in the two Houses of Parliament.
Party sources said it will depend on Sonia Gandhi if she decides to name Rahul Gandhi as the party's leader in Lok Sabha or opts for some other leader. They said there is less expectation of a decision on the issue tomorrow and she may also opt to do it later through a press release.
Sonia Gandhi is now a member of the Rajya Sabha. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge is the Leader of the Opposition in the upper House of Parliament.
A meeting of the Congress Working Committee will be held earlier in the day which is expected to laud the party's performance in the Lok Sabha polls. Credit for the party's "good showing" with the party bagging 99 seats compared to 44 and 52 seats it won in the last two Lok Sabha elections, is likely to be given to Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge.
Congress fought the election as part of the India bloc and the parties together were able to prevent BJP from getting a majority on its own in Lok Sabha. The BJP-led NDA won 293 in the polls.
Congress sources said the party is likely to express its resolve to fight on issues concerning people inside and outside Parliament and a resolution may be adopted by the CWC over the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into "the biggest stock market scam", an issue raised by Rahul Gandhi on Thursday.
Party sources said the resolution is expected to state that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not got the mandate to form the government at the Centre but is doing so.
While a meeting of the Extended Congress Working Committee will be held at around 11 am, a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party comprising all newly elected Lok Sabha MPs and Rajya Sabha MPs would be held in Central Hall of Parliament at 5:30 pm.
A dinner has also been planned for extended CWC and CPP members at Hotel Ashok at 7 pm.