Oppn parties to hold a meeting on RS dy chairman candidate

MAMATA BANERJEE’S TMC IS KEEN TO FORGE A FEDERAL FRONT AND SEEMS HESITANT TO BACK A CONG NOMINEE

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 BJPled 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.