Vice-Presidential Election 2017: Sonia Gandhi congratulates Venkaiah Naidu, reminds him of 'non-partisan' role

New Delhi: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday extended best wishes to Vice-President-elect M Venkaiah Naidu and extended her party’s support in further strengthening the Rajya Sabha for effective scrutiny of legislations and government policies. [caption id=“attachment_3898709” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Sonia Gandhi. PTI[/caption] “The position of vice-president has the crucial challenge of assuming a non-partisan role in running ‘The House of Elders’ which acts as a storehouse of wisdom and sage advice for the government. The House of Elders is an important determinant of our democratic functioning to address appropriate checks and balances,” she said in her message. By virtue of being vice-president, Naidu will also preside over the Rajya Sabha as its chairman. The 68-year-old BJP leader from Andhra Sabha was on Saturday elected as India’s next vice-president, securing an overwhelming two-third of the votes against opposition candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi.