Rajya Sabha today bid farewell to 54 retiring members as the outgoing MPs shared their experiences and nostalgic moments.
"...Today, we bid farewell to some of our colleagues, who are retiring in the months of April and May this year on completion of their term of office," Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari said.
54 members from Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will be completing their term of office.
15 of the retiring members have been re-elected.
"I am happy to note that some of the members have been re-elected, but the House will certainly miss those who would not be coming back," Ansari said.
Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said some of the members will not be coming back to the House and hoped they will continue to contribute through their public lives.
The senior BJP leader recalled that there may be political differences, but members were rarely seen clashing at individual level.
Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said irrespective of political differences, the members have tried best to maintain dignity of the Upper House.
He said many of the retiring members would enter Lok Sabha after the general elections.
