Former PM Manmohan Singh Retires From Rajya Sabha After 33 Years

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh ended his 33-year-long parliamentary innings in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. As many as nine union ministers and 44 others end their Upper House tenure with the veteran Congress leader.

Singh’s exit comes at a time when the former party chief Sonia Gandhi will enter the Rajya Sabha for the first time. She will fill the vacant Rajya Sabha seat after the tenure completion of the former PM.

Known for his bold economic reforms, 91-year-old Singh first became a member of the Upper House in October 1991. He first served as the finance minister in the Narasimha Rao government (1991-1996) and then as India’s prime minister (2004-2014).

Earlier in February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi bid farewell to the retiring Rajya Sabha MPs and praised former PM and Congress stalwart Manmohan Singh for his contribution to the democracy.

“I want to remember Dr Manmohan Singh today, his contribution has been immense. For such a long time, the way he guided this House and the country, he will always be remembered for it.”

He also hailed Dr Manmohan Singh for coming to the Parliament in a wheelchair to cast his vote, saying that he set an example for other MPs to perform their duties.

“I remember in the other House, during the voting, it was known that the treasury bench would win but Dr Manmohan Singh came in his wheelchair and cast his vote. This an example of a member being alert of his duties,” PM Modi said.

Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will complete their tenure on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, seven other union ministers ended their tenure in the Upper House on Tuesday. They are:

• Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan
• Health Minister Mansukh Mandviya
• Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Purshottam Rupala
• Information Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar
• MoS External Affairs V Muraleedharan
• Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Narayan Rane
•  MoS Information and Broadcasting L Murugan

All of the nine Union ministers, except Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, are contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and therefore have not been given another Rajya Sabha term. Notably, Vaishnaw and L Murugan have been given another term in the Upper House.

As many 49 members retired on Tuesday, while the rest five retired on Wednesday.

Others who retired from the Rajya Sabha include Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Bachchan, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Manoj Kumar Jha, Congress’ Naseer Hussain and Abhishek Singhvi, BJP’s national media-in-charge Anil Baduni, BJP ledaer Prakash Javadekar, Sushil Kumar Modi, Anil Jain and Saroj Pandey.

Bachchan, Jha and Hussain have been renominated for another term, while Singhvi will be absent from the House as he lost the election from Himachal Pradesh.

BJP’s Anil Baduni is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Uttarakhand’s Garhwal seat and so is Saroj Pandey from Chhattisgarh. Javadekar, Kumar Modi and Jain have not been nominated for another term.

(With PTI inputs)