Ahead of the Parliament session, the Congress on Tuesday said "the temperature" is going to rise tremendously with strong Opposition voices taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party to ensure that the House is "not run dictatorially as was done earlier".
Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said her "sympathies" were with the BJP as big leaders of the INDIA bloc who are known to be good speakers have made it to the House.
Asked whether the Opposition would be demanding the deputy speaker's post, she said the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and other senior colleagues would decide on it.
"But I can tell you one thing -- fasten your seat belts because the temperature of the House is going to rise tremendously. Now the House will not be run dictatorially as was done earlier," Shrinate said at a press conference in New Delhi.
"It does not matter who becomes the Speaker and who becomes the deputy Speaker. In Rahul Gandhi's 14-minute speech, you will not see the Speaker for 11 minutes now. I can tell you this and this is the power of democracy," she said.
"Priyanka ji is going to come to the House where they were not able to handle Rahul ji. Big leaders of India bloc, sharp speakers, all are going to come, what will happen to these poor people. So I want to offer my advance sympathy and condolences to the BJP. Now the House will not be run dictatorially," she said.
The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha will begin on June 24 during which new members of the Lower House will take oath and the Speaker will be elected.
President Droupadi Murmu will address a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on June 27, outlining the new government's roadmap for the next five years.
The session will conclude on July 3.
Both Houses of Parliament are expected to reconvene in the third week of July for the presentation of the Union Budget.
