NDA outwits Oppn in RS prestige fight
JD(U)’S Harivansh defeats Congress candidate Hariprasad
NEW DELHI: In a political and psychological victory for the government, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate, Janata Dal (United) MP Harivansh, was elected deputy chair of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, with the support of 125 MPS in the house of 244 MPS.
The opposition candidate, Congress’ BK Hariprasad, got 101 votes.
The victory comes as a big boost for the government, especially since it does not have a majority in the upper house and has not had much luck in steering legislations through it. Both the chair, vice president M Venkaiah Naidu, and the new deputy chair come from the NDA stable, although their roles put them above partisan affiliations. The speaker of the Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan, too, is from the NDA.
The electoral outcome reflected the hard political competition and cold arithmetic that marks the landscape ahead of elections in key states later this year and the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, as well as the continued edge the Narendra Modi-led NDA enjoys over an opposition that’s struggling to unite.
The subsequent proceedings in the house, after the outcome, however, also reflected a democratic spirit of collaboration and bonhomie in the polity.
The BJP itself has only 73 MPS in the house, which has an existing strength of 244.
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