The newly-elected Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha Harivansh Narayan Singh's nomination for the position came as a surprise from the National Democratic Alliance.
Harivansh won the post of deputy chairman with a margin of 20 votes as he received 125 votes, defeating UPA candidate BK Hariprasad who won 105 votes.
Incredible journey as a journalist
Harivansh was born on in Uttar Pradesh's Balia on 30 June 1956. He went to Banaras Hindu University (BHU) to pursue his post-graduation in Economics. He later received a diploma in Journalism as well.
A journalist by profession, Harivansh has given over 40 years of his life to the media industry. His journey in media began with a role of trainee journalist with The Times of India in 1977. He later moved to Mumbai and joined Dharamyug magazine till 1981. He started his first job on a monthly payment of Rs. 500. He also cleared a bank exam and started working with Bank of India from 1981 to 1984. After realising that he had a deep connection with journalism, he left his government job and joined Amrita Bazar Patrika's magazine 'Ravivar' as an assistant editor.
However, the turning point in his career was in 1989, when Prabhat Khabar appointed him as the Editor-in-Chief of the Hindi Daily published by the Usha Martin Group. The newspaper witnessed a huge growth under Harivansh's guidance and it became a well-known newspaper in several regions, including Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. Further, he worked for around 25 years as the editor of the newspaper.
Former PM Chandrashekar's consultant
During his college days, Harivansh participated in several protests. Notably, he joined the Jayaprakash Narayan movement in 1974. And in 1990, when Chandrashekar came to power and became the prime minister, Harivansh was selected as the PMO's assistant information consultant.
In 2014, Janata Dal gave Harivansh a ticket to contest Upper House elections and he was elected unopposed. At the time of elections, he wasn't even considered as the main party member.
