HARI VS HARI IN RAJYA SABHA DY CHAIR POLL
Veteran parliamentarian B K Hariprasad (64) from Karnataka, who stepped down only last month as the Congress general secretary, will take on, as a combined Opposition candidate, the Janata Dal(U)'s first-timer MP Harivansh (62), a journalist, fielded by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, in the crucial election of the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha slated on Thursday at 11 AM.
The Opposition first tried to field DMK's Tiruchi Siva and then NCP's Vandana Chavan, but both parties backed out, forcing the Congress to pick own member as the largest party with 50 MPs in the combination. Besides the regular parties like NCP, SP, TMC, BSP, DMK, CPI and CPI(M), the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) that came out of the BJP-led NDA in April also signed one of five nomination papers filed by Hariprasad. Harivansh had filed his nomination papers on Tuesday.
Whosoever wins will have the tenure of only two years unless re-elected to the Rajya Sabha as Harivansh retired in April 2020 and Hariprasad in June 2020. Hariprasad has been a member of the Rajya Sabha for the fourth term.
Congress deputy leader in Rajya Sabha flared up while introducing Hariprasad as the candidate when asked if the Opposition is fighting a losing battle as the NDA has a better chance to get Harivansh elected. "I don't think so. We have a formidable and better candidate. He is not Congress candidate but a joint Opposition candidate," he stressed.
He said the BJP, which has 73 MPs in the House, would have fielded own candidate if it were so confident of winning. "Since NDA didn't have the majority, the BJP has gone out of the NDA fold to muster supports," he said, referring to the reports of Bihar CM and Janata Dal(U) chief Nitish Kumar roping in nine Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MPs by speaking to his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik.
Anand Sharma said the Modi government wants to corner every post and as such it is using every tactic, influence and authority of power to swing the poll in its favour, after sudden announcement for the deputy chairman's election only on Monday after keeping it under suspense. He said the government never made any attempt to speak to the Opposition for a consensus on the election of the deputy chairman who has to carry all parties along in the House proceedings.
Nominations closed at noon on Wednesday and papers of both Hari's were found valid. The election will be held as scheduled at 11 AM on Thursday, a day before end of Parliament's monsoon session. The Rajya Sabha members constitute the electorate for this election. The post of the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman has been lying vacant since the retirement of Prof. P J Kurien of Congress on July 1.
NCP supremo Sharad Pawar pulled out his party's Vandana Chavan, a former Pune mayor, after finding the Shiv Sena openly supporting the NDA candidate and Naveen Patnaik also committing support to Harivansh.