Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose: Sonia as NDA wins Rajya Sabha Deputy chairperson poll

NEW DELHI: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Thursday downplayed the Opposition's loss in the elections for the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson. "Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose," she said.

In a closely fought election, NDA candidate and JDU member Harivansh Narayan Singh was elected as the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson, defeating opposition's BK Hariprasad. As the voice vote remained inconclusive, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu called for the division of votes in the House.

After the voting, Harivansh Narayan Singh emerged as a winner with 125 votes, while Hariprasad got 105 votes polled in his favour.

Soon after the announcement, PM Modi went to Harivansh Narayan Singh to congratulate him on the win. "I congratulate Harivansh ji on behalf of the whole house. He has been blessed with the talent of writing. He was also a favourite of former PM Chandra Shekhar ji," PM Modi said.

Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad also congratulated Singh and expressed hope that as a Deputy Chairperson, he will pay heed to the objections raised by the Opposition and won't be partial towards the NDA government.   

Born in Balia in Uttar Pradesh, Harivansh's close aides say he was a meritorious student and went on to do MA. In Economics and Diploma in Journalism from Banaras Hindu University. He comes from the same region where socialist leader and anti-Emergency crusader Jai Prakash Narayan was born.

While he landed a government job as a bank officer, he chose to work as a journalist and rose to become the Chief Editor of Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar. He has authored and edited several books in Hindi, especially on Bihar and Jharkhand. His bio data on the Rajya Sabha website says he has also been honoured for his outstanding contribution to Hindi.

Considered to be close to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Harivansh was chosen as one of nominees of the party for the Upper House in 2014.