Opposition may field candidate against BJP for RS Dy Chair's post

NEW DELHI: In the coming Monsoon session of Parliament, there is likely to be a showdown between the ruling NDA and the Opposition parties of the Rajya Sabha in the election for the post of deputy chairman of the Elders house. There is a move to nominate a non-Congress, non-BJP MP for the post as a consensus candidate.

The term of the present Deputy Chairman, Prof P J Kurien, ends on June 30. The election for the post of deputy chairman will be held in the Monsoon session, which is supposed to start in July.

At present, the ruling NDA, including the Shiv Sena, has a strength of 112 in the Upper House. This includes 13 united AIADMK MPs. On the other hand, the parties opposed to the BJP have a strength of 123, if united. But most of the non-Congress Opposition parties are not very enthusiastic about another Congress nominee for the post of Deputy Chairman. Instead, they had an informal talk with Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik to nominate a senior member from the BJD for the position.

Informally, the Opposition parties have proposed the name of senior BJD MP Prasanna Acharya as a candidate for deputy chairman. The Congress has not taken any decision so far, but sources indicated that the party perhaps would not be averse to the idea of fielding a non-BJP candidate.

Although the Shiv Sena is officially aligned with the ruling BJP, it might rock the NDA boat in the election for deputy chairman. Similar is the case with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.

Initially, there was also speculation about the possible candidature of senior TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, but in the interest of greater Opposition unity, the TMC might sacrifice its candidate.

When the name of Prasanna Acharya was speculated in the Odisha media, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan dismissed the report. But the BJP has not taken any final decision so far regarding the deputy chairman's post.