• Congress MP Rahul Gandhi named Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha

    National
    Congress MP Rahul Gandhi named Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha
    The decision to appoint Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of the Opposition was made following a resolution passed by the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's highest decision-making body, on June 9. 

    Digital Desk: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday was formally appointed as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. KC Venugopal, a party leader, informed the media that Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), had written to Pro-tem speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab to communicate Rahul Gandhi's appointment to the position.

    The decision to appoint Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of the Opposition was made following a resolution passed by the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's highest decision-making body, on June 9. After the CWC meeting, Rahul Gandhi indicated that he needed time to deliberate on the matter before finalizing his decision.

    This appointment marks the Congress party's reclaiming of the Leader of Opposition position in the Lok Sabha. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress significantly increased its seat count to 99, up from 52 in 2019 and a mere 44 in 2014.

    Despite emerging as the second largest party in Parliament after the BJP in both 2014 and 2019, the Congress had previously fallen short of meeting the criteria required to assume the role of principal opposition party due to its seat count being less than 10% of the total seats in the Lower House.