Leader of Opposition

An unseemly sparring is on between the Government and its Opposition The BJP leading a NDA government has little reason to deny a LOP for the Congress led UPA that  with  60 MPs, meets the conventional numeric of a tenth of Lok Sabha strength.Should the BJP harp on the count of 44 of Congress as justifiably inadequate for it to qualify ,it can do so in all fairness,by re constituting a stand alone BJP government with its majority count of 282 MPs  and thus negate a coalition both in the government  and the opposition . To further bring credence to its stand on the exclusivity of the Lok Sabha arithmetic and extend its ethical logic, BJP ought to shed   ministers from its allied parties and those from the Rajya Sabha, limiting it to the LS. No doubt the PM  enjoys  a constitutional  prerogative to choose his cabinet for  optimum governance , but he and his party have  the onus as well  to serve a higher cause, that of a truly democratic functioning of the legislature, by positioning without delay a LOP in the lower House.

Pub: Hindu Businessline; July 9