Before taking call on RS deputy chair, Cong waits for Oppn’s pick

NEW DELHI: The Congress, the CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress continued to make the right noises about putting up a consensus candidate of the Opposition for the post of the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, but a decision hasn’t been taken yet and the ongoing discussions between various constituents of the federalfront-in-the-making show dynamics that will have to be managed for the creation of a united front to take on NDA. According to leaders from the three parties familiar with the matter and who spoke on condition of anonymity, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday lobbied with her Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala counterparts to pick a candidate from the non-congress bench for the post.

While AP’S N Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party and Karnataka’s HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (S) have more or less agreed to explore the possibilities, the CPI(M)’S Pinarayi Vijayan told Banerjee that his party will take the final decision, the leaders said.