Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday put up a condition in front of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA over the post of 18th Lok Sabha Speaker.
"We have said to Rajnath Singh that we will support their Speaker (candidate) but the convention is that the post of Deputy Speaker to be given to opposition...," said the Congress MP while speaking to reporters outside Parliament.
"Today it is written in the newspaper that PM Modi has said that the Opposition should cooperate with the Govt constructively. Rajnath Singh called Mallikarjun Kharge and he asked him to extend support to the Speaker," Rahul said.
"The entire Opposition said that we would support the Speaker but the convention is that the Deputy Speaker post should be given to the opposition. Rajnath Singh said that he would call back Mallikarjun Kharge but he has not done that yet," he added.
"PM Modi is asking for cooperation from Opposition but our leader is getting insulted..," said the Congress leader.
The development comes after Singh reached out to Opposition leaders on behalf of the government in a bid to build consensus for the post of Speaker and Deputy Speaker in Lok Sabha.
In a situation where opposition does not come on board with the NDA over the post of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, it will be the first time that election would be held for the two key posts in the Lower House.