Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut had announced support to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate Manoj Jha for the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman election. Although National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Harivash was elected for the post on Monday, Shiv Sena’s support to the opposition’s candidate suggests that it may officially join the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
Sena broke its 35-year-old alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) due to tussle over the Chief Ministerial post in Maharashtra after the 2019 state assembly elections. The political deadlock was broken after Sena allied with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress to form the government.
As this happened, Shiv Sena was left out of a BJP-led NDA meeting and its decades-old alliance with BJP came to an end at the national level as well. Now, Shiv Sena has extended its support to the opposition’s candidate Manoj Jha for Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman election which was held on Monday.
It would be safe to assume that Shiv Sena may become part of the Congress-led UPA in the coming future. Raut had earlier announced that his party was out of NDA and was with UPA on key national issues. However, it has not been announced whether Shiv Sena will officially be a part of UPA or not.
In January this year, Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi had organised an opposition meeting to discuss a strategy against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).
However, Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was unable to attend the meeting. Later, Raut said that the reason for Thackeray absence was “miscommunication”.
With Shiv Sena extending its support to the opposition’s candidate, the regional party might join hands with NDA officially. The distance between BJP and Shiv Sena has increased amid the entire Sushant Singh Rajput death case and tussle with Bollywood Actress Kangana Ranaut.
JD(U) MP Harivansh Singh was elected as the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman and defeated Opposition’s candidate Manoj Jha. The voting was done via voice vote on the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament.
Harivansh has been elected as Rajya Sabha deputy chairman for the second time. The post was vacant after his term came to an end in April this year.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien had raised the issue of the vacant post of Lok Sabha deputy speaker and said that the BJP government has “mocked” the great institution. The post of Lok Sabha deputy speaker or the second chair has been empty for a record 456 days.
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