The Bharatiya Janata Party has broken the Congress’ 65-year-old dominance in the Rajya Sabha after its 58th legislator took oath on Thursday, NDTV reported. Madhya Pradesh’s Sampathiya Uikey took oath on Thursday giving the BJP an edge over the 57 lawmakers representing the Congress.
The saffron party is still short of having a majority in the 245-seat Rajya Sabha.
Uike, who was elected unopposed in the bye-election for the Rajya Sabha seat, was brought in for Union Minister Anil Madhav Dave, who died in May this year.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the BJP became the number one party in the Rajya Sabha because of its increased support base. “We are in power in most states and since the Rajya Sabha is a council of the states, the strength of the BJP has to be reflected,” he said.
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