BJP State president and newly elected Rajya Sabha member Deepak Prakash on Wednesday started his new innings in Parliament as he was sworn in as Upper House member. Rajya Sabha chairman and Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu administered him the oath of office and secrecy at Rajya Sabha secretariat of Parliament House. Shibu Soren too was to take the oath but he could not take the oath due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Prakash, along with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief and Dishom Guru Shibu Soren was elected as Rajya Sabha member. While Soren was elected Rajya Sabha member unopposed, Prakash in a contest defeated Congress candidate Shahzada Anwar. Out of the total 79 votes, Prakash secured 31 votes, while 30 MLAs voted for Soren. Congress candidate Shahzada Anwar finished third, securing 18 votes.
Prakash after taking the oath talking to media persons said, “I am very much grateful to BJP leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda, who have reposed faith in me and given me such a big responsibility.” He further said, “It is only in BJP that a common worker, who started his political career by carrying flags can reach the height of party organization.” Prakash who is in BJP for past four decades has served the party at different positions holding various organizational posts, but is for the first time that he has entered Parliament.
Deepak started his career with ABVP. When the state of Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000, he was made the chairman of the Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation (JSMDC) during the tenure of Chief Minister Babulal Marandi. When Marandi left the BJP and formed JVM (P), Prakash too left BJP. However, he soon returned to BJP. In the previous BJP committee, Prakash had served as the State vice president and later became State General Secretary.
Sources said Prakash is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to national Capital. Prakash who is camping in Delhi on Saturday met party national president JP Nadda. During his visit, the two leaders discussed the organizational and current state of the Jharkhand. JP Nadda expressed happiness over the party’s work especially raising people centric issues. Nadda said that the party should always be sensitive to public issues.
Earlier, Rajya Sabha chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu administered the oath or affirmation to 45 of 61 members newly elected to the upper house. Other MPs who were not present for the ceremony will be administered the oath at a later date. Among the members who took oath were 19 BJP MPs, including Jyotiraditya Scindia.From Congress camp those taking oath included Mallikarjun Kharge from Karnataka, Digvijay Singh from Madhya Pradesh among others.