New Delhi/IBNS: Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi has slammed the Modi government after it refused to concede the Deputy Speaker's post to the Opposition.

Gandhi said Defence Minister and BJP veteran Rajnath Singh spoke to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge seeking a consensus over the Lok Sabha Speaker's post.

The Opposition made it clear it will extend support to the NDA candidate in exchange for Deputy Speaker's post, which the government refused to give up.

Speaking on this, Gandhi said, "Narendra Modi talks about cooperation with the opposition, but now our leader is being insulted. This shows that BJP's intentions are not clear."

"Narendra Modi says something and does something else. This is their strategy, but they will have to change it. Because the whole country knows that PM Modi's words have no meaning," he added.

In an unprecedented scenario in Lok Sabha in Independent India, a contest over the Speaker's post will be held as the INDIA bloc fielded Congress MP K Suresh as its candidate against BJP-led NDA's pick Om Birla after the government refused to concede the Deputy Speaker's post to the Opposition.

Suresh has already filed his nomination for the Speaker's post.

The Opposition went for a conditional support to Om Birla, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament this morning.

"The Opposition is putting forward its conditions. We condemn this kind of politics. It is best to have a consensus candidate going by tradition. What the Opposition is doing is against the tradition," said Union Minister Piyush Goyal.

Birla, a BJP MP who was elected from Kota-Bundi constituency of Rajasthan, served as the Speaker in the 17th Lok Sabha from 2019 to 2024.