Rajya Sabha: Oppn to press for Deputy Chairman election

Amid apprehensions that the government may delay the election of Deputy Chairman in Rajya Sabha where numbers are stacked against it, the Opposition parties will press for conducting the polls during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament starting this Wednesday.

The Opposition feels that the government's reluctance in initiating talks with party leaders to finalise a schedule for the Deputy Chairman poll is a "ploy to delay" the process citing that the Constitution does not cite a time frame for filling a vacancy of Deputy Chairman. The post fell vacant after Congress' P J Kurien's Rajya Sabha term ended on July 2.

The Opposition leaders would discuss how to corner the government on the issue will be discussed during a meeting on Monday. A senior Opposition leader told DH, "we do not expect them to go ahead with elections as they do not have numbers. Opposition will have to insist and we will insist that the election should be held."

At present, there are 244 MPs (with a vacancy of one) and BJP-led NDA can get 108 seats. However, the Opposition can garner as many as 117 votes, much closer to the half-way mark of 123. Nineteen votes of BJD, TRS, YSR Congress and PDP are undecided.

While names like Akali Dal's Naresh Gujral have been speculated as a possible NDA candidate, sources said the Punjab MP would be keen only if he is elected unopposed.

However, Opposition appears in no mood to relent to the BJP game-plan and is likely to put a candidate, possibly a non-Congress. While Trinamool Congress is lobbying for its senior MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, no consensus is there on his name as the Left parties are opposing his possible nomination.

While Congress has indicated that it is willing to forgo its claim for the post and support a joint opposition candidate, there are no official discussions between any of the Opposition constituents. Latest reports suggested that Congress informally offered its support to NCP if it fields a candidate.

Congress' stand comes against the backdrop of reluctance of parties like TDP, BJD, TRS and YSR Congress in supporting an Opposition candidate from Congress while they are open to a non-Congress candidate. Trinamool Congress is using this as a backdrop for its claim for the post and it is learnt its chief Mamata Banerjee is in touch with TDP's N Chandrababu Naidu, BJD's Naveen Patnaik, TRS' K Chandrasekhar Rao and others to drum up support for Roy.

However, some Opposition leaders feel that Congress may not give up its claim on the post and may up its ante when the real negotiations start. They expect Congress "to do a Meira Kumar", when it ensured that she was the joint Opposition candidate while other parties were keen on a face like Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

To apprehensions that some parties like TDP may not vote for Congress, one of the leaders said, "so if it is a Congress candidate, whom will they vote? Can any of these parties vote for BJP? You have to put that question to them."

"The ideal candidate is a non-Congress MP. More than numbers, these elections are fought on the standing of the candidate. A person of the stature of Ramgopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party or Satish Chandra Mishra of BSP could be interesting candidates. But they may not take it up for various reasons," a leader said.