New Delhi, June 1: Congress will not stake a claim to the Leader of Opposition (LoP) post in Lok Sabha, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said on Saturday. At a press conference, Randeep Singh Surjewala said the Congress party lacks the required strength in the lower House to claim the Leader of Opposition (LoP) post. Like the 16th Lok Sabha, the Congress has not qualified to have a Leader of Opposition in the 17th Lok Sabha.

"We will not stake a claim to the Leader of Opposition till we have the strength of 54 and since we don't have we're not going to stake a claim," Surjewala said. "It's a fact that, it's 10 percent of the strength of House. Since we are two short officially, we can't have a Leader of Opposition. However, the onus also lies at doorsteps of govt whether they want to designate a party formally as principal opposition or not," the Congress leader added. Sonia Gandhi Re-Elected as Chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party.

A party needs to win at least one-tenth of the total Lok Sabha seats to claim the LoP post in the lower House of Parliament. The total strength of the 17th Lok Sabha is 543 seats apart from 2 nominated members. It means a party needs to have a minimum of 55 lawmakers to claim the LoP post. Congress has 52 members in Lok Sabha. In 2014 too, Congress had fallen short of the required numbers and had won only 44 seats.

A petition was then filed in the Supreme Court seeking that the Leader of Opposition status in Lok Sabha be granted to Congress party. However, a Supreme Court bench, headed by the then Chief Justice RM Lodha, refused to entertain the petition saying it cannot decide political issues filed under the garb of Public Interest Litigation.

Earlier today, Congress President Rahul Gandhi remarked that "52 lawmakers are enough to make Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) jump every day". "We are 52 MPs. I guarantee you that these 52 MPs will fight against BJP every single inch. We are enough to make BJP jump every day," Gandhi told Congress lawmakers.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 01, 2019 03:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).