NEW DELHI, Feb 18: Rajya Sabha today bid farewell to 54 retiring members as the outgoing MPs shared their experiences and nostalgic moments.
“…Today, we bid farewell to some of our colleagues, who are retiring in the months of April and May this year on completion of their term of office,” Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari said.
54 members from Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will be completing their term of office.
15 of the retiring members have been re-elected.
“I am happy to note that some of the members have been re-elected, but the House will certainly miss those who would not be coming back,” Ansari said.
Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said some of the members will not be coming back to the House and hoped they will continue to contribute through their public lives.
The senior BJP leader recalled that there may be political differences, but members were rarely seen clashing at individual level.
Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said irrespective of political differences, the members have tried best to maintain dignity of the Upper House.
He said many of the retiring members would enter Lok Sabha after the general elections.
N K Singh (JD-U), who would be retiring, said Bihar has shown improvement on several fronts in the past few years and it was not because of only one party or one person.
It was contribution of “collective leadership” of JD-U and BJP.
Recalling his earlier days in the House, he said once he misquoted someone and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assumed the role of teacher to correct him.
Another retiring member Bharatkumar Raut (SS) said he considers the House as his university as he learnt how to be a human being.
He also urged the Chair to provide more time to regional parties to express their view points.
Renu Bala (BJD), Barun Mukherji (AIFB) and A A Jinnah (DMK), who too would be retiring, expressed their views.
Earlier, in his farewell speech, Naresh Agrawal (SP) said in politics nothing is permanent and hoped the outgoing members would keep serving the country at other fora.
V Maitreyan (AIADMK), T M Selvaganapathi (DMK), Ali Anwar Ansari (JD-U), Shashi Bhusan Behera (BJD), Y S Chowdary (TDP) and Balwinder Singh Bhunder(SAD) also spoke.
D Raja (CPI) said many valuable members are retiring. He said there are other fora where they should continue their services to people and country.
Janardhan Waghmare (NCP) said his time in Rajya Sabha had been the happiest of times as well as saddest.
He said he was happy because of quality of debates in the House, but disruptions made him sad.
Vasanthi Stanley (DMK) sang a Tamil farewell song and choked with emotion as she remembered her deceased husband.
BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said his experience had been good and he would continue working for his party.
Rama Chandra Khuntia (Cong) also expressed his views. JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari expressed concern about the ethical deficit in the society and said passing of laws alone is not sufficient to tackle the evils prevailing in the society.
He said both the major parties were following similar economic policies and added that inequality and corruption were matters of concern.
Ishwar Singh and Prabha Thakur (both Cong) also spoke.
Alka Balram Kshatriya (Cong) said she was encouraged by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when she spoke in the House. Independent member Ahmad Malihabadi also expressed his views. (PTI)
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