As new RS MPs take oath, nos. tilt further towards NDA
NEW DELHI: With newly elected Rajya Sabha members taking oath on Monday, the numbers in the House have become more favourable towards BJP-led NDA, and it now has a real chance of pulling off a two-thirds majority in the House in case govt makes a fresh push for passage of its ambitious Constitution amendment bill to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha and roll out onethird quota for women from the next general election, reports Kumar Rakesh. NDA now has 141 MPs in the 242-member RS and can count on the support of 10 nominated and Independent MPs, taking its assured tally to 151, well above the simple majority but still 11 short of atwo-thirds majority.Two regional parties not aligned to either NDA or opposition INDIA bloc — BJD (5) and YSR (4) — have often backed govt’s key legislative agenda in the past. Their support will take NDA’s tally to 160 in the Rajya Sabha. Whenever bypolls to fill three vacancies from West Bengal are held, BJP is all but certain to grab them due to its dominant numbers in the assembly. This will take NDA’s strength to 163 in the full RS of 245 MPs, in which the two-thirds mark will be 164. With TMC rebels claiming that more RS members of the party may resign, NDA will be more than hopeful of reaching the magic figure. Govt faces a bigger challenge in the Lok Sabha, even though the rebellion in two opposition parties, including Trinamool Congress, which had the fourth largest contingent of 28 MPs, coupled with DMK’s break-up with Congress, has boosted NDA’s hopes. If Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla recognises the merger of 20 rebel TMC MPs with Nationalist Citizens Party of India and of 6 rebel Sena UBT members with Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, NDA’s tally will receive a big boost, though it will still fall well short of the required 360 in the 540-member Lok Sabha, which has three vacancies.
