Meet Harivansh Narayan Singh, the new Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh was on Thursday elected as the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman. Singh outvoted UPA’s BK Hariprasad by 125 votes to 105. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Harivansh Narayan Singh after Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu announced the election of Singh to the post of Deputy Chairman, which was lying vacant since June 2018 after the retirement of PJ Kurien.

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Who is the new Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha – Harivansh Narayan Singh?

1. Harivansh Narayan Singh is a first time Rajya Sabha MP, who represented Bihar.
2. He is a former journalist and former Editor-in-Chief of Prabhat Khabar and is elected for April 2014-April 2020.
3. Singh completed his higher education from the Banaras Hindu University, which is now the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
4. Singh has also worked with the Bank of India for a short period. He resigned from his job to pursue a career in journalism.
5. Harivansh was also the media advisor to former PM Chandra Shekhar.
6. He is also touted to be the brain behind Nitish Kumar’s call for special status for Bihar.
7. As a deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, he is expected to bring more power to BJP-JDU ties in Bihar. 
8. Harivansh Narayan Singh was associated with Jai Prakash Narayan (JP), who brought together Opposition parties against Indira Gandhi’s Emergency rule.

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