The Rajya Sabha on Monday re-elected Janata Dal (United) parliamentarian Harivansh Narayan Singh as Deputy Chairman of the Upper House by voice vote.
Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik on Monday announced his party’s support to NDA candidate Harivansh for the post.
The announcement came hours after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar spoke to Patnaik for a second time in the morning regarding the RS Deputy Chairman election.
On September 10, Nitish had talked to Patnaik seeking BJD support for his JD(U) candidate in the RS Deputy Chairman election.
Commenting on the BJD’s move, Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Pattnaik said his party’s claim that the BJD and the BJP are two sides of a coin has been proved again. “Naveen Patnaik has provided support to the BJP-led NDA Government in all issues.
Today’s move proves that they are both the sides of a coin. It is also clear that the BJD runs Odisha as per the direction of the BJP.” Notably, in 2018, the BJD had also backed Harivansh following telephonic talks between Patnaik and Nitish Kumar.
However, the BJD was under fire from the Opposition for voting in favour of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate.
The BJD in its clarification had said the party supported the JD(U) due to ‘ideological similarities’, but it would continue to maintain equidistance from the BJP and the Congress.