Oppn to finalise strategy, candidate for RS dy chairman election tmrw

Determined to contest the election for the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson on Thursday, opposition parties are likely to finalise their strategy and decide the name of their candidate tomorrow, sources said.

A meeting of the opposition parties was held today, during which they discussed the strategy to get the required numbers to defeat the NDA candidate, a source said, but added that no Opposition candidate's name was finalised there.

"We have decided every party would discuss the names with their respective party heads and then have a final round of talk tomorrow to finalise our joint candidate. All opposition parties have also decided to talk to other independent members and a few of non-UPA, non-NDA allies," a senior opposition leader told PTI.

According to the opposition sources, Tiruchi Siva of DMK, Vandana Chavan of NCP and nominated member K T S Tulsi are front-runners for the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman post.

TDP, which walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in March, was also a part of the Opposition meeting today.

C M Ramesh of the TDP, who won Public Accounts Committee election in Rajya Sabha, attended the meet.

The opposition parties are in touch with the BJD, which has not yet specified its stand for the upcoming election, the sources said.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu announced today that the election for the deputy chairman's post will be held at 11 AM on August 9.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's Tiruchi Siva, Bahujan Samaj Party's Satish Chandra Mishra, NCP's Praful Patel, CPI's D Raja, TMC's Derek O'Brien, RJD's Misa Bharti and CPI(M)'s T K Rangarajan also attended the meeting in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad in Parliament House.

JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP Harivansh is expected to be the NDA candidate.

Naidu had suggested that the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman should be elected by consensus. However, as of now it appears an election would take place for the post with the opposition likely to field its candidate as well, the sources said.

The nomination papers will have to be filed before noon on Wednesday.

The post of the deputy chairman has been lying vacant since June this year, following the retirement of P J Kurien, who was elected to the upper house of Parliament on a Congress ticket from Kerala.