Opposition parties that have joined hands against the BJP today authorised the Congress to choose their joint candidate in the election for the post of Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha.
As most parties were not keen on fielding their members, the Congress, being the largest opposition party, was unanimously asked to select a candidate.
After a third round of meeting during the day, an opposition leader on condition of anonymity said, "Though the name of NCP's Vandana Chavan was discussed, the NCP was not too keen on projecting its member. No other party also wanted to field their nominee, so the Congress was authorised to pick a candidate. All opposition parties will support the Congress nominee."
Earlier, most opposition parties raised no objection to Chavan's name.
Chavan, whose name was proposed by Bahujan Samaj Party leader Satish Chandra Mishra and seconded by TMC leader Derek O'Brien, received every opposition party's support, including the Congress.
The Congress, the largest opposition party with 50 seats in the upper house, earlier felt its candidate might face strong resistance from some parties such as the TDP, which has decided to side with the Opposition camp on this matter.
According to the opposition leader, the TDP later agreed to support a Congress-picked candidate.
According to senior opposition leaders, they felt during the meeting that an NCP candidate from Maharashtra will be able to get the support of Shiv Sena, an NDA ally.
Opposition parties are also in touch with the BJD, which has not opened its cards yet.
In today's meeting, the opposition parties also discussed the matter pertaining to JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar calling up Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of the BJD seeking support for the NDA nominee, according to the opposition leader.
The NDA has fielded Harivansh Narayan Singh of the JD(U) for the August 9 election.
At present, both the camps are trying hard to get the numbers required to get their candidate elected to the post.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)