Tweet
Sachin, Rekha first vote for VP as MPs
They missed the oath taking ceremony of the newly-elected President Pranab Mukherjee recently. But master blaster Sachin Tendulkar and actress Rekha will be among those who will come to vote for the Vice Presidential elections on August 7. It will be their first vote as the nominated Rajya Sabha MPs.
Congress sources told The Pioneer that despite his hectic schedule Sachin has already confirmed — through an SMS sent from London to Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla — his availability on the day for casting his ballot.
Sachin has not attended a single day of the House and had taken oath only during the inter-session period to avoid being mobbed.
The Congress is also “confident” of Rekha coming to cast her vote. “We have already spoken to Rekha and she has assured us she will be coming to Parliament to vote,” sources said. This will be the second visit to Parliament for the yesteryear actress, the first being for taking oath. Sachin and Rekha along with industrialist Anu Aga had been nominated to the House of Elders in April.
The Congress is hosting a lunch on August 6 for MPs of all the UPA allies and supporting parties who have pledged to support its nominee Hamid Ansari.
The JD(U) and the Shiv Sena, which had earlier supported Pranab Mukherjee, have decided to support NDA candidate Jaswant Singh in the Vice Presidential polls.
But much to the relief of the ruling dispensation, unlike in the Presidential elections wherein nominated members are not allowed to vote due to conflict of interest as President is their nominating authority, they will be eligible to vote in the Vice Presidential polls. The Congress is thus leaving no stone unturned to garner maximum support from all the quarters.
As for Aga, who is a member of the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council, she did attend the Rajya Sabha after her nomination. The Congress is banking on her support for Ansari due to her proximity with Sonia.
Two other nominated members — Mani Shanker Aiyar and Bhalchandra Mungekar — have already joined the Congress, hence their support to Ansari is not an issue.
The party is also confident that other nominated members like Javed Akhtar, MS Swaminathan, HK Dua, Ashok Ganguly, Mrinal Miri, K Parasaran and B Jayashree — who have been very regular in the House will definitely exercise their franchise and support Ansari as most of them were nominated to the Upper House during the UPA regime.
Apart from the UPA coalition partners and supporting parties, the Congress has been assured of support from the Left parties too. Though the TMC has not clarified its stand, the Congress is confident that just like in the Presidential polls, Mamata will come around and support its VP candidate.
Ansari has an edge over Jaswant and the Congress is confident of getting about 500 of the 790 MPs’ support for him.
But at the same time it realises that the ruling alliance will face problem in getting its candidate elected as the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. For, in that elections the electoral college consists of just members of the Upper House where the Opposition has an edge.
They missed the oath taking ceremony of the newly-elected President Pranab Mukherjee recently. But master blaster Sachin Tendulkar and actress Rekha will be among those who will come to vote for the Vice Presidential elections on August 7. It will be their first vote as the nominated Rajya Sabha MPs.
Congress sources told The Pioneer that despite his hectic schedule Sachin has already confirmed — through an SMS sent from London to Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla — his availability on the day for casting his ballot.
Sachin has not attended a single day of the House and had taken oath only during the inter-session period to avoid being mobbed.
The Congress is also “confident” of Rekha coming to cast her vote. “We have already spoken to Rekha and she has assured us she will be coming to Parliament to vote,” sources said. This will be the second visit to Parliament for the yesteryear actress, the first being for taking oath. Sachin and Rekha along with industrialist Anu Aga had been nominated to the House of Elders in April.
The Congress is hosting a lunch on August 6 for MPs of all the UPA allies and supporting parties who have pledged to support its nominee Hamid Ansari.
The JD(U) and the Shiv Sena, which had earlier supported Pranab Mukherjee, have decided to support NDA candidate Jaswant Singh in the Vice Presidential polls.
But much to the relief of the ruling dispensation, unlike in the Presidential elections wherein nominated members are not allowed to vote due to conflict of interest as President is their nominating authority, they will be eligible to vote in the Vice Presidential polls. The Congress is thus leaving no stone unturned to garner maximum support from all the quarters.
As for Aga, who is a member of the Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council, she did attend the Rajya Sabha after her nomination. The Congress is banking on her support for Ansari due to her proximity with Sonia.
Two other nominated members — Mani Shanker Aiyar and Bhalchandra Mungekar — have already joined the Congress, hence their support to Ansari is not an issue.
The party is also confident that other nominated members like Javed Akhtar, MS Swaminathan, HK Dua, Ashok Ganguly, Mrinal Miri, K Parasaran and B Jayashree — who have been very regular in the House will definitely exercise their franchise and support Ansari as most of them were nominated to the Upper House during the UPA regime.
Apart from the UPA coalition partners and supporting parties, the Congress has been assured of support from the Left parties too. Though the TMC has not clarified its stand, the Congress is confident that just like in the Presidential polls, Mamata will come around and support its VP candidate.
Ansari has an edge over Jaswant and the Congress is confident of getting about 500 of the 790 MPs’ support for him.
But at the same time it realises that the ruling alliance will face problem in getting its candidate elected as the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. For, in that elections the electoral college consists of just members of the Upper House where the Opposition has an edge.
Prakash
Comment