NDA to strengthen position in Rajya Sabha

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will strengthen its position in the Rajya Sabha with the addition of four more members later this week.

This will be following the inclusion of four Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and one Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) member. With this, the NDA will have 115 MPs with a clear sight at the halfway mark of 121 in the House of 241 (actual strength 245).

These members are from Bihar, Gujarat and Odisha. In Bihar, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) will get the slot. Two seats will be added to the BJP's tally in Gujarat and one in Odisha out of three.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is the single largest party in the Upper House with 75 members. The Congress is the largest opposition party with 48 members and Samaajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress being the largest non-Congress-non-BJP party with 13 members each.

There will be five vacancies from Tamil Nadu on July 24. These are D. Raja of CPI, and AIADMK's K.R. Arjunan, Dr. R. Lakshmanan, Dr. V. Maitreyan and T. Rathinavel Rathinavel.

Unlike the first term of the Modi government, the NDA is expecting less obstacles in the Rajya Sabhja this time. In his speech in the Rajya Sabha on the President's address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the mandate of the people should not be stifled by putting obstacles in clearing the bills.

The BJP is expecting issue-based support from parties like the Biju Janata Dal (5), YSR Congress (2) and TRS (6 members).