Speaker's decision on LOP may be influenced by govt: Amarinder

New Delhi, July 20: Questioning the delay in granting the Leader of Opposition's post to his party, Congress leader Amarinder Singh today said no decision by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in this regard till now has raised fears that she could be "influenced" by the government.

The deputy leader in Lok Sabha charged the Narendra Modi government with being "petty" and "unfair" to the Congress in not granting the official Leader of Opposition's post and feared that key appointments like that of Central Vigilance Commissioner and others would not be made fairly.

"The Congress has formally written to the Speaker for over 10 days now, but she is yet to give her decision. I wonder what is delaying the decision. The delay raises fears that her decision may be influenced by the government," the former Punjab chief minister told PTI.

He said the Speaker does not belong to any particular party and is supposed to take decisions independently and cannot be influenced.

Asked about the manner in which government was behaving on the issue of granting the post to Congress and also the seating arrangements in Lok Sabha, he said, "Government is acting petty. They are being unfair to the Congress."

He said if there was no Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, key appointments will be made only by the government and that would not be appropriate as their independence could be affected.

"The LOP has to be there. If you do not have an LOP then the independence of key positions like that of CVC could be affected. If only the government would make such appointments, then that would not be appropriate," he said, adding that the Congress has the option of going to court if it is denied LOP.

Singh also differed with his colleague Anand Sharma on arresting Ved Pratap Vaidik for meeting 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Pakistan and said, "There should be a probe and the matter be investigated first on whether Vaidik has links with an anit-national. He could be detained first rather than arresting him straight away."

PTI