NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister must be from Lok Sabha, former Speaker P A Sangma had demanded in his last speech in the lower House.
Speaking at a special session on November 27, 2015, for the last time in the House he once presided, Sangma had demanded that the Constitution be amended to enable election of Prime Minister directly by the Lok Sabha.
He said that the Parliament has failed and it is "further failing" and also questioned whether India should go for a Presidential form of government.
"Prime Minister of India, I still insist, must belong to Lok Sabha and he must be elected by the House, and then President can appoint him. Once Prime Minister is elected, there should be no scope for a confidence motion. There is no provision in the Constitution of India (which says) that every Prime Minister should take the confidence of the House.
"The moment he becomes the Prime Minister, unless he is challenged by non-confidence motion, it should be presumed that he has the confidence of the House.
"For fifteen years, no Lok Sabha Member was fit to become Prime Minister of this country. Then where is the Parliamentary system. If we have to borrow a Chief Minister, if we have to borrow a Rajya Sabha Member to become the Prime Minister of India, then where is the need for Lok Sabha? The Prime Minister of India must belong to Lok Sabha. We must amend the Constitution of India," Sangma had demanded.
He was referring to past PMs Manmohan Singh, I K Gujral and H D Deve Gowda, who were members of the Upper House.
Sangma, whose 18-month tenure of Speakership witnessed five confidence and no-confidence motions, insisted that people from a particular state should represent their state in the Upper House.
"I have strong reservation about that. For representation in the Upper House, any representative must belong to his State because he is representing the States; it is the House of the States. How can a man from Kerala become a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam? It does not look nice. Rajya Sabha is becoming a rehabilitation centre," Sangma had said.