Govt confident of numbers as RS takes up CAB today

New Delhi: After being passed by the Lok Sabha, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 is all set to be taken up by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The bill had a smooth sailing in Lok Sabha and it looks like the Upper House too won’t pose a big hurdle.

While the full strength of the Rajya Sabha is 245, its current strength is 240. This makes 121 the majority mark.

The BJP has 83 MPs in the Upper House. Its allies such as Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have six and three MPs, respectively.

Apart from NDA allies, there are other parties that are likely support the bill. These include the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), which has 11 MPs, Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress, which have seven and two MPs, respectively.

N. Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supported the bill in Lok Sabha and is expected to vote on similar lines in the Upper House as well. It has two MPs. The LJP of Ram Vilas Paswan has one MP.

With the support of other smaller parties, the government is confident of easy passage of the bill. In fact, sources said that the government is confident that the bill will get the support of more than 125 members in the Upper House.

The BJP’s ally-turned-foe Shiv Sena voted in favour of the amendment in Lok Sabha, however in Rajya Sabha it is expected to vote against the bill. The Sena has three MPs
in the Upper House.

On the other hand, the Congress (46 MPs), Trinamul Congress (13) and the Nationalist Congress Party (4), among others, will be opposing the bill.

Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), with four and five MPs in Rajya Sabha, respectively, are also expected to oppose the bill.

Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), with nine and three MPs respectively, are also expected to vote against the bill.

The BJP was hoping to secure the support of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). However, the party opposed the bill in the Lok Sabha and has said it will do so again in the Rajya Sabha as well. It has six MPs in Rajya Sabha.