Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram has been allotted a seat in the front row in the latest reshuffle of sitting arrangements in Rajya Sabha.
Front row seats are allotted to a select number of senior Members of Parliament (MPs), former prime ministers and eligible leaders of parliamentary parties.
Chidambaram, a seven-term Lok Sabha MP, is serving his second term in the Upper House of Parliament. The vacancy in the front row came with the retirement of Congress leaders AK Antony and Anand Sharma.
The elevation for Chidambaram comes ahead of a debate on the general Budget for financial year 2023-24, in which he is set to be one of the lead speakers of the Opposition.
Besides Chidambaram, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh has also has been allotted a seat in the same row.
Last month, more than 12% of 66 Lok Sabha MPs were allotted new seats during a reshuffle of the sitting arrangement.
A total of 35 ministers got new seats while some former ministers had to settle for later rows in the chamber.
Cabinet ministers such as Smriti Irani, Kiren Rijiju, RK Singh, Arjun Munda, Anurag Thakur, Virendra Kumar and Pashupati Kumar Paras were among those who were allotted new seats. The division (voting) number of an MP is considered the number of his or her seat.
