Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman election on August 9
A tight fight is on the cards for the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman as the government and the opposition are likely to contest head on for the August 9 elections.
Published: 06th August 2018 11:04 PM | Last Updated: 06th August 2018 11:04 PM | A+A A-
File photo of Rajya Sabha (File| PTI)
NEW DELHI: A tight fight is on the cards for the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman as the government and the opposition are likely to contest head on for the August 9 elections. While the NDA has zeroed in on journalist turned politician and first time Rajya Sabha MP of the JD (U) Harivansh, the opposition is yet to arrive at a consensus candidate.
The BJP is seemingly backing the JD (U) candidate for the election, which is likely to test the strength of the Opposition unity in close heels of the July 20 no confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, to further cement relations with Bihar ally in the run up to the general elections.
Sources said that the BJP agreed to back Harivansh after the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar assured the party leadership to get the required numbers to sail through in the upper house where the ruling NDA is short of the halfway mark.
Seen as a close confidante of Kumar, Harivansh was previously an editor of Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar published from Ranchi and Patna. The Opposition leaders met Monday but there was no consensus on their candidate. The discussion was on picking up a candidate with highest winning probability.
The leaders will meet again on Tuesday. According to sources, they were informed about the government's choice of candidate for the post. Names of DMKchy Siva and NCP's Vandana Chavan were doing rounds as a 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 still undecided and hold the key to victory. Some of the parties which remain undecided are AIADMK, BJD and TRS among others. They all abstained from voting during no confidence motion in the lower house.
In a boost to opposition unity Monday, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) elections for the two vacant seats in Rajya Sabha, TDP MP C M Ramesh bagged the highest vote followed by BJP's Bhupender Yadav. The JD(U) candidate Harivansh lost. The election to the deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha was announced by Chairman Venkaiah Naidu. The post fell vacant after June this year following retirement of P J Kurien. The nomination has to be filed by noon on August 8.
