RS deputy chairman’s post : Shiv Sena to back NDA candidate

New Delhi: The Shiv Sena, an estranged ally of the BJP that abstained from the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha against the government, will back the NDA candidate for the election to the post of the Rajya Sabha's deputy chairman, a party leader said on Wednesday.

The NDA has fielded Harivansh Narayan Singh of the JD(U) for the election scheduled on Thursday. "We will back the NDA candidate," said Shiv Sena MP Anil Desai.

The party has three members in the Upper House. The support comes amid increasing bad blood between the Shiv Sena and the BJP. It heightened after the Sena's loss at the hands of the BJP in Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll in May.

The Shiv Sena has already announced to go solo in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. BJP president Amit Shah had met Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residence Matoshree, but that did not help change the latter's stand.

The Shiv Sena had abstained from voting on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha moved by the Opposition last month against the Modi government.

Despite the tensions between the two parties, the Shiv Sena backed the candidatures of Ram Nath Kovind and Venkaiah Naidu in presidential and vice-presidential polls in 2017. The BJD, the AIADMK and the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) have also indicated their support to Singh.

If Cong wants AAP votes for Hariprasad, Rahul should ask Kejriwal: Sanjay Singh

The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday said it may not vote for opposition nominee B K Hariprasad in the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman election, unless Rahul Gandhi asks Arvind Kejriwal for support.

Earlier on Wednesday, sources said Congress MP from Karnataka Hariprasad, 64, will be the opposition's candidate for the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson.

"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's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh told reporters.

The Congress decided to field its nominee as the joint opposition candidate after the other parties in the opposition bloc chose not to nominate their members.

Singh said AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will take a final call on how the party votes in the election for deputy chairman tomorrow. "If Rahul Gandhi can hug Narendra Modi, why cannot he ask Arvind Kejriwal for support to his party's candidate," Singh said.

Dubbing the Congress as a "mean-spirited" party, Singh said the AAP voted in favour of its candidates in the elections for the President and the Vice President, even without being asked for it.

"We voted in favour of their candidates in the elections for President and Vice President, but they did not even have the courtesy to say thank you."

The AAP supported the Congress on many occasions including the political crisis in Goa, Uttarkhand and Mizoram but has only received opposition in return, Singh said.

"They distributed sweets when our 20 MLAs in Delhi were disqualified. All opposition parties supported us during Kejriwal's dharna at the LG office barring the Congress," he said.