Meet K Suresh — INDI Bloc's Candidate For Lok Sabha Speaker's Post

New Delhi: Accusing the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of breaking the tradition of awarding the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker's position to the opposition, the INDIA bloc fielded Congress leader K Suresh for the Speaker's role against Om Birla on Tuesday. Congress leader K C Venugopal and DMK's T R Baalu walked out of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's office, refusing to endorse NDA candidate Birla without assurances of the Deputy Speaker's position being given to the opposition.

Venugopal stated that the BJP declined to commit to offering the Deputy Speaker's post to the opposition. Despite efforts from Union ministers Amit Shah, J P Nadda, and Singh to persuade opposition leaders to back the NDA nominee, their attempts were unsuccessful.

Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Lalan Singh accused the Congress of imposing conditions, asserting that the ruling alliance was open to discussing their demand during the Deputy Speaker's election. Sources indicated that over 10 sets of nominations were filed in support of Birla's candidacy, including those from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Shah, Singh, Nadda, and BJP allies such as TDP, JD(U), JD(S), and LJP (R).

Three sets of nominations supported Suresh, a Dalit leader and eight-term MP.

Who is K Suresh?

• Kodikunnil Suresh is an eight-term MP and the most senior member of the Lok Sabha, currently representing the Mavelikara constituency in Kerala.
• He is a special invitee to the Congress Working Committee, was a frontrunner for Kerala Congress chief in 2021, serves as the working president of Congress's Kerala unit, and is the chief whip of the Congress parliamentary party in Lok Sabha.
• Suresh was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1989, and subsequently won elections in 1991, 1996, and 1999 from the Adoor constituency. He faced defeats in the 1998 and 2004 general elections.
• In 2009, the Kerala High Court disqualified his victory due to allegations regarding a fake caste certificate and claims of being a Christian. However, the Supreme Court later overturned this verdict.    
   

(With PTI inputs)