Congress MP to be Opposition pick for deputy RS chair

New Delhi: After a day of political twists and turns, the Opposition parties on Tuesday indicated that they may field B.K. Hariprasad of Congress for the post of deputy chairperson of Rajya Sabha in the August 9 election after the NCP’s Vandana Chavan decided to opt out of the race.

Ms Chavan pulled out of the contest hours after the Opposition leaders very nearly picked her as their candidate at a meeting in the afternoon.

Significantly, the meeting was attended by NCP chief Sharad Pawar himself giving credence to the speculation that his party would field its candidate in the election.

However, at a meeting later in the evening the NCP leadership is learnt to have told other Opposition parties that the since the BJD would support JD(U) candidate Harivansh Narain Singh it would like to withdraw Ms Chavan’s from the contest.

The other name considered by Opposition for the election was that of DMK’s Tiruchi Siva but his chances of getting picked dipped after the news of the death of the party’s founder M. Karunanidhi came in.

This left the Opposition leaders with the option of picking a candidate from the Congress or back nominated member K.T.S. Tulsi. The balance finally tilted in favour of the Congress when many leaders pointed out that it was the largest Opposition party and its leader should be the collective choice for the contest.After the meeting, Congress sources told this newspaper that there was no option but to field a candidate from its own ranks as all others had refused to fight.In another twist, the Biju Janata Dal, which has nine members in the House, issued a statement barely an hour after the NCP opted out of the race, saying that it had not yet taken a decision on whom to support in the August 9 election.Claiming that it will take a call on the matter on Wednesday, the party said that in the past the JD(U), whose leader Harivansh Narain Singh has been fielded by the NDA as its candidate for the deputy chairperson’s post, had not supported P.A. Sangma in presidential polls despite a requested by the BJD. BJD leaders also confirmed that Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik had received calls from JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, Mr Pawar, BJP president Amit Shah and Union home minister Rajnath Singh seeking support for their respective candidates.Even if the BJD decides to take a neutral stand and abstain from voting, the Opposition will have an edge.With the NDA nominee likely to get support of 13 AIADMK members and six of the TRS, the decision of the BJD will be significant in deciding the outcome of the contest.Through the day many parties made their stand clear on the August 9 election. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti tweeted that her party would vote against the NDA candidate, as did the YSR Congress Party. Both parties have two MPs each. The AIADMK made it clear that it would vote for the NDA candidate.Opposition parties were also worried over the prospect of four DMK candidates’ absence from the Rajya Sabha on the voting day as they might be busy with the funeral of their party founder Karunanidhi.

After the unity shown during last year’s presidential elections, the Opposition has made the Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson’s election a prestige battle and another opportunity to consolidate the Opposition forces against the BJP.The current strength of the Rajya Sabha is 244 and support of 123 members would be needed for a win in case of an election, if all members are present.

The BJP is the largest party in the House with 73 members, followed by the Congress with 50 members.