`A good fight' - Congratulations from Cong, Left

NEW DELHI: Congress and the Left parties congratulated M Venkaiah Naidu on his election as Vice-President on Saturday, with Sonia Gandhi choosing to underline the “position's non-partisan role“ in running the Rajya Sabha.

Extending her wishes, Sonia said, “The position of the Vice-President has the crucial challenge of assuming a nonpartisan role in running `The House of Elders', which acts as a storehouse of wisdom and sage advice for the government.“ She offered Congress's support in strengthening the Upper House “for effective scrutiny of legislations and government policies“.

Congress and the Left had jointly backed Gopalkrishna

Gandhi

against Naidu.

CPM general secretary

Sitaram Yechury

said, “We congratulate Venkaiah

Naidu

and we are grateful to Gopalkrishna Gandhi for accepting our request to contest.This was a good political fight. We wanted someone who can uphold the constitu tional values and Gandhi did so ably . That we got nearly 20 more votes than the presidential polls is a good sign.“

CPI national secretary and Rajya Sabha member D Raja said it was the spirit of the contest that mattered more than the result.

He said, “The opposition put up a better show and was more united in the VP poll than in the presidential elections last month. We were able to put up a fight to protect the constitutional and demo cratic values of our country .Gopalkrishna Gandhi is well known for his integrity and commitment, and he stood firm in this contest, putting up a dignified fight.“

Raja also extended his good wishes to Naidu. He said, “Naidu has been our active and efficient colleague of many years. We give him our best wishes and hope that he will stand by the values of multiparty democracy and be an able custodian of the Indian Constitution.“