RS Deputy Chairman election: PM Modi calls Odisha CM to say thanks

Bhubaneswar: A day after Harivansh Narayan Singh won the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman election; Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over telephone and thanked him for supporting the NDA-backed JD (U) candidate.

Singh was elected deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha yesterday after he won the election with 125 votes against UPA’s BK Hariprasad who got 105 votes.

Earlier, CM Naveen had announced his party’s support to Singh for the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman post.

Patnaik had further informed that a number of political leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah had spoken to him in this regard.

With no clear majority of both NDA and UPA, support of regional parties like BJD was considered to be crucial before the election for the deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), YSR Congress Party and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had abstained from voting.