Senior Congress leader P J Kurien is likely to be elected as Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman in the monsoon session of the Parliament beginning from August 8.
According to highly placed sources, UPA leadership has decided to field Kurien in the election, which is scheduled in the forthcoming monsoon session. The post of Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha is lying vacant after the term of K Rahman Khan ended in April.
Hamid Ansari, who is set to get re-elected as the Vice President, is likely to announce the schedule for the election in the second week of August.
Kurien, who was re-nominated to the panel of Vice-Chairmen, Rajya Sabha, on April 19 this year, has recently quit from the panel. With the recommendation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the President, the monsoon session of the Parliament is likely to begin from August 8.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Wednesday said, “The government has recommended to the President to summon the monsoon session of Parliament from August 8 to September 7.”
Since the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) is yet to be constituted, Manmohan Singh took the decision to recommend to the President to summon the monsoon session on August 8.
Earlier, the CCPA was headed by the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who has since been named the Presidential candidate by the UPA.