End of an era: Manmohan Singh's 30-year Rajya Sabha term ends as Congress loses seats in Assam assembly

After a successful stint of 3 decades, membership of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from Rajya Sabha ended on July 14 and he would be missed in the upcoming session of the Parliament for the first time in 30 years.

The grand old party does not have required numbers to secure any Rajya Sabha berths. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: After a successful stint of 3 decades, membership of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from Rajya Sabha ended on July 14 and he would be missed in the upcoming session of the Parliament for the first time in 30 years. Singh, one of India's renowned economist and the one who was behind keep the country away from recession in 2008, would not be present in the Rajya Sabha during the upcoming Budget session for the first time after winning his first election from Assam in 1991 as he could not make up to the Upper House due to Congress' poor strength in the state Assembly. The grand old party could not get Singh re-elected from Assam as it has only 25 MLAs against 43 first-preference votes required. Congress has fallen short by 5 MLAs had it even got the support of 13 legislators of All India United Democratic Front. The party could not even send Singh from any other states where Rajya Sabha seats are vacant. After Bharatiya Janata Party's Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and AGP’s Birender Prasad Baishya’s election from Assam, as many as 9 seats are lying vacant including four in Odisha, one in Tamil Nadu and two each in Bihar and Gujarat. The grand old party does not have required numbers to secure any Rajya Sabha berths in these states except Gujarat where it is trying its best to get at least one seat. The former PM, however, can be send to the Upper House from Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan or Punjab, but there are no immediate vacancies in the states. Though Congress has an option to make any other leader resign and get Singh elected from that seat, but news agency ANI sources maintain that it has not been considered in the party. During his tenure as Rajya Sabha MP for 28 years, he led the upper House for 10 years from 2004 to 2014 and acted as the Leader of the Opposition for six years. Singh was last elected to the House in 2013. Singh was India's prime minister from 2004 to 2009 and then from 2009 till 2014. During his time as finance minister between 1991 and 1996, Singh was often credited for bringing dramatic revolution in country's economic policies. His 1991 budget introduced significant reforms that liberalised country's economy and opened it up to the rest of the world, setting it on a course of rapid growth.