Updated: September 12, 2020 2:27:07 am
RJD MP Manoj Jha is the Opposition’s joint candidate for the post of Vice President of Rajya Sabha. (File photo)
RJD MP Manoj Jha presented his nomination as a joint Opposition candidate for the post of Rajya Sabha vice president on Thursday. He later wrote to his fellow MPs asking them to “stand up and be counted” in front of the people of the country.
Jha’s candidacy has clouds of the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections hanging over it: the BJP-led NDA has nominated Harivansh from JD (U), who was also the last person to hold the post.
In his letter, Jha said that the political opposition is a “critical and moral force in the nation.”
“It is the collective desire of the opposition that this election is not seen as a contest for power to legislate at the Union government level. Nor should it be seen as a contest between two people. Given the great parliamentary tradition, this election is about two different versions of our parliamentary democracy: one, which only sees it as a numbers game, and the other, which gives importance to criticism, discussion and consensus building in interest of citizens. our country and its people, ”Jha wrote.
Jha told The Indian Express that his letter was addressed to all non-BJP MPs, particularly regional parties like the BJD and TRS.
In his letter, Jha wrote: “Rajya Sabha is the House in which the state legislatures are represented. Therefore, the Upper House of Parliament is also the forum for the articulation of federal concerns at the Center. I request your support not only to win an election, but to make a strong statement in favor of a responsible system of government. A system in which the regional parties that have formed state governments do not have to depend on the quid pro quo with the party in power in the Center just to maintain a relationship between the federal state and the Union without confrontation ”.
Jha said that the election for the vice president position, scheduled for September 14, the first day of work in the session of Parliament affected by Covid, is an opportunity for parliamentarians to “stand up and be counted in front of the people of this country. “
“I hope they see this as an opportunity to be recorded in Indian history as advocates of parliamentary democracy at a time when that was the most crucial need,” he wrote.
Sources said that so far, it appears that the NDA has the required numbers in Rajya Sabha and is also likely to gain support from neutral parties that have a considerable presence in the Upper House, such as the BJD, TRS and the YSRCP. The leaders said that while the Opposition is making efforts to contact these parties, particularly the BJD, it seems unlikely that the opposition will win.
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