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NDA may challenge Chatterjee

May 30, 2004 20:48 IST

The National Democratic Alliance on Sunday indicated that it may field a candidate for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker to take on CPI(M) veteran Somnath Chatterjee with some alliance constituents favouring Nationalist Trinamool Congress leader P A Sangma.

NDA convenor George Fernandes told a press conference in Delhi that the opposition parties have not so far been consulted on the issue of speakership and that the choice for the post was unlikely to be unanimous.

"Appointing anybody as the Lok Sabha Speaker without consulting the opposition has never happened till now. We were not consulted on the issue and some of our constituents are favouring P A Sangma for the post. Therefore election is likely," he said.

Last week BJP chief Venkaiah Naidu had also hinted that NDA might challenge Chatterjee for the post of the
Speaker.

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