Oppn parties to hold a meeting on RS dy chairman candidate

NEW DELHI: As the countdown begins for election to the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman’s post, the Opposition will go into a huddle in the first week of July in search of a common candidate.

“The Rajya Sabha leaders of different parties will meet soon to decide the candidate,” Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.

Fault lines have emerged within the Opposition ranks over the possible choice of a candidate for the post, which is expected to be keenly contested by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and its rivals. The incumbent deputy chairman, the Congress party’s PJ Kurien, will retire soon and the election to select his successor will take place after the two Houses reconvene for Parliament’s monsoon session on July 18.

Mamata Banerjee’s TMC, the fourth largest party in Parliament, is keen to forge a federal front and seems hesitant to back a Congress nominee. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which, with nine votes, may tilt the equation in favour of the Opposition, also maintains a similar stand. “We will certainly not support any Congress candidate and backing a BJP candidate for this election is out of question,” said senior BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab.

“As far as we know, TDP (Telugu Desam Party) and TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi), too, would not support any Congress candidate.”

The leader even went to the extent of suggesting that if the Congress calls a meeting of the Opposition parties, some regional parties may not even participate.

The CPM, which has three votes, will not support a Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate. The Congress leadership has communicated to regional parties that it is willing to give away its claim to the post, but the decision to back a candidate from a regional party will depend on the names that are proposed.