NEW DELHI: A fresh trial of strength will happen in Parliament on Thursday, this time in the Rajya Sabha, when members will elect their deputy chairman. While the NDA has decided to field journalist-turned-politician and JD(U)’s first-time member Harivansh Narayan Singh, the opposition is yet to firm up its consensus candidate.
The election to the post of deputy chairman was not expected this early, but sources said the BJP decided to go ahead with it after JD(U) boss and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar assured he would be able to rustle up the numbers in Harivansh’s favour, though the NDA is way short of the halfway mark.
Seen as a close confidante of Nitish, Harivansh was earlier the editor of Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar published from Ranchi and Patna.
The BJP’s outreach is expected to further cement relations with its Bihar ally in the run-up to the general elections.
This is the second test for Opposition unity in recent times, as it lost a no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on July 20.
Curiously, Harivansh lost an election in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. He was among the candidates for two vacant slots in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). With TDP member C M Ramesh bagging the highest votes followed by BJP’s Bhupender Yadav, Harivansh stood defeated.
But election to the deputy chairman’s post would be a different ball game as Nitish’s reputation would be at stake.
Opposition leaders met on Monday and explored options to choose a candidate with the highest winning probability. They will meet again Tuesday. Names of DMK’s Trichy Siva and NCP’s Vandana Chavan were doing the rounds as possible candidate from the opposition camp.
Going by the current number of the Upper House, the ruling NDA has 93 while the opposition has 116. Around 35 MPs from various regional outfits are undecided and hold the key to victory.
Some of them include AIADMK, BJD, TRS and Shiv Sena. All of them had abstained from voting during the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.
Undecided MPs hold the key
There are as many as 35 undecided MPs from various political parties like the AIADMK, BJD, TRS and Shiv Sena. Their tactical voting or abstension will decide which grouping has the last laugh. Since there are 244 eligible voters at present, the winning mark would be 123
Nomination paper filing by Wed noon
The August 9 election to the post deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha was announced by Chairman Venkaiah Naidu. The post fell vacant after June this year following the retirement of P J Kurien. Nomination papers have to be filed by August 8 noon