Nitish Kumar, Chandrababu Naidu push BJP to designate THIS precious post to alliance partners. Here's why

livemint.com:

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)], crucial to NDA's third successive central government, are pressuring for the Lok Sabha Speaker post. Both TDP and JD(U) conveyed to BJP top leadership that the role should go to alliance partners, recalling TDP's GMC Balayogi's tenure as Speaker during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's coalition government in the late 1990s.

Sources close to development said, as reported by Indian Express, “The move is to insulate the alliance partners from any possible split in the future. The Speaker’s role is crucial in the anti-defection law because the time and nature of the final decision is entirely a call that can be taken by the Speaker."“Both TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have “sounded out “ some of the other allies of the BJP regarding the Speaker post move," the publication also said, citing sources.

It is yet not clear whether Naidu and Kumar raised demand officially at the NDA meeting today that was held in New Delhi. The post of Speaker, the constitutional and ceremonial head of the Lok Sabha, usually goes to the ruling alliance while the Deputy Speaker’s post is conventionally held by a member of the Opposition party.