Kept away from the Government this time, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav may still be able to keep some of his pride and position in House. The former railway minister is likely to get a seat in the front row in the Lok Sabha.

Though his RJD has only four members in the House, Lalu is set to share the front bench of the third block (seats no.187 and 188) with former prime minister and JD (S) leader H D Deve Gowda. Unlike Lalu, leaders of several larger groups like Shiv Sena (11), AIADMK (nine) Telugu Desam (six) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (five) would have to be content with second or third rows. The same holds good for CPI and Akali Dal, who have four members each.

Lok Sabha rules give total discretion to the Speaker for the allotment of seats. “The members shall sit in such manner as the Speaker may determine,” Rule No.4 says. The Speaker, in turn, is guided by the convention of giving precedence to the party strength.

There are some other traditions too. Like, former prime ministers being provided front seats. Both Chandra Shekhar and Deve Gowda benefited from this tradition in the past.

There is a bit of scope for an exercise of discretion by the Speaker. In Lalu’s case, discretion, coupled with his seniority and status as a former senior minister, would obviously come in to play.

As it appears, apart from Deve Gowda and Lalu, one would get to see Sharad Yadav (JD-U), Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), Dara Singh Chauhan (BSP), Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M) and Arjun Charan Sethi (BJD) in the front row.

... contd.