Rahul Gandhi ‘blamed’ for Opposition’s defeat
Harivansh Narayan Singh, 62-year old Janata Dal(U) MP fielded by the BJPled ruling NDA, turned tables on the Opposition to become the new Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, defeating B K Hariprasad(64) of Congress by 125 to 105 votes.
A first-time MP from Bihar and editorin-chief of prominent Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar of Jharkhand, he has been an additional information adviser in the Prime Minister's office during the tenure of Chandra Shekhar. Both hail from Ballia and Harivansh has agricultural land worth Rs 1 crore in Ballia, besides other assets worth Rs 3 crore.
The post had fallen vacant from completion of the Rajya Sabha term by deputy chairman Prof. P J Kurien on July 1. Unless re-elected, Harivansh will have less than two years' term as the deputy chairman as his six-year tenure as MP ends in April 2020.
Though the Opposition is putting up a brave face, murmurs of dissatisfaction could be heard in the galleries of Parliament with some leaders questioning why Congress President Rahul Gandhi did not reach out to parties like the AAP, which could have extended support, like
Bihar CM & JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar did by calling up BJD and TRS leaders.
Also, some leaders are of the opinion that a Congress member as opposition candidate closed the chances of getting votes from some parties who didn't wish to be seen close to any camp.
"If Congress had put up a non-Congress candidate or even decided to project someone from TDP or any other opposition party, then we could have gathered more votes," said a senior Opposition leader on the terms of anonymity.
After deciding to contest the polls against the BJP, the opposition parties had asked the Congress to put up a joint candidate. However, after the result on Thursday, many of them said they had expected that the Congress would nominate a non-Congress MP for the post but it did not happen.
Also, the opposition leaders were dissatisfied with the Congress' strategy.
A phone call from Congress president Rahul Gandhi could have managed to get AAP members to vote for the Opposition candidate, said some other leaders of the non-Congress parties.
"Nitish Kumar had called Arvind Kejriwal seeking support for NDA candidate but Kejriwal refused. If Nitish could call why can't Gandhi," AAP leader Sanjay Singh told PTI.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has three members, stayed away from voting.
"If they (the Congress) ask for our vote, we will oblige. It is meaningless to vote compulsively (for the Congress), if they do not need it," AAP MP Sanjay Singh had said earlier in the day.
"If Rahul Gandhi can hug Narendra Modi, why cannot he ask Arvind Kejriwal to support his party's candidate?" Singh asked.
Meanwhile, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday said that the defeat in the election to the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman post should not be perceived as lack of unity in the Opposition. She said, “Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose." When media reporters asked whether the Opposition unity was falling apart, Gandhi said, "No...why?"