Rajya Sabha bids farewell to 99 members

After two days of acrimony and bitter feud over Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, members of the House were today in a bonhomie mood as they got together to bid farewell to 99 of their colleagues who have either completed their tenure or are close to doing so.
   
Among the 99 members, a few had already retired last year while some others were elected to the Lok Sabha in the last general elections.
    
Besides Union ministers AK Antony and Anand Sharma, prominent among those who would be retiring this year include their ministerial colleagues Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh, MS Gill, BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu and SP leader Jaya Bachchan.
    
Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Union ministers Farooq Abdullah, Sushilkumar Shinde, Praful Patel, V Narayanasamy and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi were among those who were elected to the 15th Lok Sabha after being members of the Rajya Sabha.
    
Speaking at the farewell function, prime minister Manmohan Singh said Rajya Sabha can perform an exemplary role and bring to bear the quality of experience which is not always available to the Lok Sabha.
    
Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari described the Upper House as the lynchpin of the federal structure which is a remarkable collection of persons with diverse skills and experience which together can produce a compendium of invaluable knowledge.     

The evening also saw rendition of ghazals by noted singer Jagjit Singh.