Harivansh Narayan Singh elected Rajya Sabha dy chairman: Veteran journalist a JD(U) leader, first-time MP

JD(U) leader Harivansh Narayan Singh has been elected the new Rajya Sabha deputy chairman candidate, after the NDA candidate defeated Congress’ BK Hariprasad with 125 ayes against 105 noes. Harivansh has been a Rajya Sabha member of the Janata Dal (United) since 2014. According to a report in NDTV, Singh, 62, is the former editor of Prabhat Khabar, one of the most prominent newspapers of Bihar and Jharkhand, which for years championed the cause of special category status for Bihar. He left the daily after becoming a Rajya Sabha member in 2014. [caption id=“attachment_3118030” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of JD(U) MP Harivansh. Image courtesy: YouTube[/caption] A first-time parliamentarian, Harivansh was given a seat in the Rajya Sabha by Nitish Kumar’s party in 2014 and has a tenure till 2020. He has also worked with former prime minister Chandra Shekhar. Born on 30 June, 1956, in Uttar Pradesh’s Balia, Harivansh did his post-graduate in Economics from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), according to a report in The Economic Times. He also did his PG Diploma in Journalism from BHU. He has been an associate of renowned socialist Jai Prakash Narayan. According to The Financial Express, Harivansh started his career with Hindi weekly Dharmyug in 1977. He then joined Bank of India in Hyderabad as an official language officer. He has edited or written 19 books and has also been a member of the World Editors Forum. Harivansh adopted Bahuaara village in Rohtas after becoming an MP, according to the report. He gave a major part of the MLA LAD fund to open a river study-cum-research centre at Aryabhatta University. He also used the fund for the development of an endangered language centre for at IIT-Patna. To follow live updates from the Rajya Sabha, click here