If Congress wants AAP votes for Hariprasad, Rahul should ask Kejriwal: Sanjay Singh

New Delhi, Aug 8: The Aam Aadmi Party said it may not vote for opposition nominee B K Hariprasad in the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman election unless Rahul Gandhi asks Arvind Kejriwal for support.

Earlier today, sources said Congress MP from Karnataka Hariprasad, 64, will be the opposition's candidate for the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson.

"If they (the Congress) ask for our vote, we will oblige. It is meaningless to vote compulsively (for the Congress), if they do not need it," AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh told reporters.

The Congress decided to field its nominee as the joint opposition candidate after the other parties in the opposition bloc chose not to nominate their members. Singh said AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will take a final call on how the party votes in the election for deputy chairman tomorrow.

"If Rahul Gandhi can hug Narendra Modi, why cannot he ask Arvind Kejriwal for support to his party's candidate," Singh said.

Dubbing the Congress as a "mean-spirited" party, Singh said the AAP voted in favour of its candidates in the elections for the President and the Vice President, even without being asked for it.

"We voted in favour of their candidates in the elections for President and Vice President but they did not even had the courtesy to say thank you."

The AAP supported the Congress on many occasions including the political crisis in Goa, Uttarkhand and Mizoram but has only received opposition in return, Singh said.

"They distributed sweets when our 20 MLAs in Delhi were disqualified. All opposition parties supported us during Kejriwal's dharna at the LG office barring the Congress," he said.

The election to the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman will see a direct contest between NDA's Harivansh Narayan Singh and opposition nominee Congress Rajya Sabha MP B K Hariprasad.

Both the ruling NDA and the opposition camp have given notices on behalf of their respective candidates and their papers have been found to be in order, according to sources in the Rajya Sabha secretariat.

The AAP, which has three MPs from Delhi in the Rajya Sabha, may abstain from voting for deputy chairman's post, in case it decides not to vote for Hariprasad sources said.

PTI