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Leader of the Opposition in
Rajya Sabha
Leader of the Opposition in; Rajya Sabha
Rājya Sabhā ke Vipakṣa ke Netā
	Emblem of India
	Incumbent; Mallikarjun Kharge; since 16 February 2021
Residence	New Delhi
Appointer	While parliamentary chairperson of the largest political party in the Rajya Sabha that is not in government
Term length	5 years
Inaugural holder	Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra (1969–1971)
Deputy	Pramod Tiwari, INC; (13 March 2023-Incumbent)
Salary	₹330,000 (US$3,900); (excl. allowances) per month
Website	rajyasabha.nic.in

The Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha (IAST: Rājya Sabhā ke Vipakṣa ke Netā) is an elected Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha who leads the official opposition in the Upper House of the Parliament of India. The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha is the parliamentary chairperson of the largest political party in the Rajya Sabha that is not in government.

The office holder ranks 7th in the Order of Precedence of India.

History

In the Rajya Sabha until 1969, the title of opposition leader only existed de facto and had no formal recognition, status or privilege. Later, the leader of the opposition was given official recognition and their salary and allowances was extended by the Act, 1977. Since then, the leader in the Rajya Sabha should satisfy three conditions, namely,

he should be a member of the House
of the party in opposition to the Government having the greatest numerical strength and
be recognised by the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha

In December 1969, the Congress Party (O) was recognised as the main opposition party in the parliament while its leader, Shyam Nandan Mishra plays the role of opposition leader. M. S. Gurupadaswamy was later elected the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha after Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra completed his tenure. However, Gurupadaswamy's appointment was declared with no formal announcement.

Role and responsibilities

The Leader of Opposition (LoP) looks at government policies formulated for the rights of minorities and demands debate and criticises the government if ruling party tries to avoid debates on such policy. LoP also debates on the country's foreign relations and trade when it poses security threats on the national security.^[1]^[2]

Privileges and salary

Opposition leaders play a significant role in government policies and their implementation by the ruling party. Sometimes, opposition leaders question government about the country's national security and development.^[3] After the constitution of India created a separate law on 1 November 1977 for opposition leaders, the salary was extended.^[4]

List of leaders of the opposition in Rajya Sabha

Following members have been the leaders of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

No.	Name (born – died) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Government	Leader of House	Chairman (Tenure)
No official opposition (13 May 1952 – 17 December 1969)
1	Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra (1920–2004) MP for Bihar	18 December 1969	11 March 1971	1 year, 83 days	Indian National Congress (O)	Indira II	Kodardas Kalidas Shah	Gopal Swarup Pathak (1969–1974)
2	M. S. Gurupadaswamy (1924–2011) MP for Uttar Pradesh	24 March 1971	2 April 1972	1 year, 9 days	Indian National Congress (O)	Indira III	Uma Shankar Dikshit	Gopal Swarup Pathak (1969–1974)
No official opposition (2 April 1972 – 30 March 1977)
3	Kamalapati Tripathi (1905–1990) MP for Uttar Pradesh	30 March 1977	15 February 1978	322 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Desai	L. K. Advani	B. D. Jatti (1974–1979)
4	Bhola Paswan Shastri (1914–1990) MP for Bihar	24 February 1978	23 March 1978	27 days
(3)	Kamalapati Tripathi (1905–1990) MP for Uttar Pradesh	23 March 1978	8 January 1980	1 year, 291 days
(3)	Kamalapati Tripathi (1905–1990) MP for Uttar Pradesh	23 March 1978	8 January 1980	1 year, 291 days	Indian National Congress (Urs)	Charan	K. C. Pant	Mohammad Hidayatullah (1979–1984)
5	L. K. Advani (born 1927) MP for Gujarat	21 January 1980	7 April 1980	77 days	Janata Party	Indira III	Pranab Mukherjee	Mohammad Hidayatullah (1979–1984)
No official opposition (7 April 1980 – 18 December 1989)
6	P. Shiv Shankar (1929–2017) MP for Gujarat	18 December 1989	2 January 1991	1 year, 15 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Vishwanath	M. S. Gurupadaswamy	Shankar Dayal Sharma (1987–1992)
6	P. Shiv Shankar (1929–2017) MP for Gujarat	18 December 1989	2 January 1991	1 year, 15 days	Indian National Congress (I)	Chandra Shekhar	Yashwant Sinha
(2)	M. S. Gurupadaswamy (1924–2011) MP for Karnataka	28 June 1991	21 July 1991	23 days	Janata Dal	Rao	Vacant
7	S. Jaipal Reddy (1942–2019) MP for Andhra Pradesh	22 July 1991	29 June 1992	343 days	Janata Dal		Shankarrao Chavan
8	Sikander Bakht (1918–2004) MP for Madhya Pradesh	7 July 1992	16 May 1996	3 years, 314 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
8	Sikander Bakht (1918–2004) MP for Madhya Pradesh	7 July 1992	16 May 1996	3 years, 314 days	Bharatiya Janata Party			K. R. Narayanan (1992–1997)
9	Shankarrao Chavan (1920–2004) MP for Maharashtra	23 May 1996	1 June 1996	9 days	Indian National Congress	Vajpayee I	Sikander Bakht
(8)	Sikander Bakht (1918–2004) MP for Madhya Pradesh	1 June 1996	19 March 1998	1 year, 291 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Deve Gowda	Inder Kumar Gujral
						Deve Gowda	H. D. Deve Gowda
						Gujral	Inder Kumar Gujral
						Gujral	Inder Kumar Gujral	Krishan Kant (1997–2002)
10	Manmohan Singh (1932–2024) MP for Assam	19 March 1998	22 May 2004	6 years, 64 days	Indian National Congress	Vajpayee II	Sikander Bakht
						Vajpayee III	Jaswant Singh
						Vajpayee III	Jaswant Singh	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (2002–2007)
11	Jaswant Singh (1938–2020) MP for Rajasthan	3 June 2004	16 May 2009	4 years, 347 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Manmohan I	Manmohan Singh	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (2002–2007)
11	Jaswant Singh (1938–2020) MP for Rajasthan	3 June 2004	16 May 2009	4 years, 347 days		Manmohan I		Mohammad Hamid Ansari (2007–2017)
12	Arun Jaitley (1952–2019) MP for Gujarat	3 June 2009	26 May 2014	4 years, 357 days		Manmohan II
13	Ghulam Nabi Azad (born 1949) MP for Jammu and Kashmir	8 June 2014	10 February 2015	6 years, 252 days	Indian National Congress	Modi I	Arun Jaitley
		23 February 2015	15 February 2021
								M. Venkaiah Naidu (2017–2022)
						Modi II	Thawar Chand Gehlot
14	Mallikarjun Kharge (born 1942) MP for Karnataka	16 February 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 321 days			Thawar Chand Gehlot
							Piyush Goyal
							Piyush Goyal	Jagdeep Dhankhar (2022–present)
						Modi III	J. P. Nadda	Jagdeep Dhankhar (2022–present)

Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha (IAST: Rājya Sabhā ke Vipakṣa ke Upar Netā) is an elected Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha who serves the deputy to opposition leader in the Upper House of the Parliament of India.

No.	Name (born – died) Constituency	Term of office			Political party
1	S. S. Ahluwalia (born 1951) MP for Jharkhand	3 June 2009	2 April 2012	2 years, 304 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Arun Jaitley
2	Ravi Shankar Prasad (born 1954) MP for Bihar	20 July 2012	26 May 2014	1 year, 310 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Arun Jaitley
3	Anand Sharma (born 1953) MP for Himachal Pradesh	8 June 2014	2 April 2022	7 years, 298 days	Indian National Congress	Ghulam Nabi Azad
3	Anand Sharma (born 1953) MP for Himachal Pradesh	8 June 2014	2 April 2022	7 years, 298 days		Mallikarjun Kharge
Interim	P. Chidambaram (born 1945) MP for Maharashtra (till Jun'22) MP for Tamil Nadu (from Jun'22)	3 April 2022	13 March 2023	344 days
4	Pramod Tiwari (born 1952) MP for Rajasthan	13 March 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 295 days

References

^ "Leader of Opposition: His role and responsibilities – India News". Latest News India. 17 June 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
^ "Rajya Sabha – Role of The Leader of The House, Leader of the Opposition and Whips Brief History". rajyasabha.nic.in.
^ Kumar, Sanjay. "Why India Needs an Opposition Leader". thediplomat.com.
^ Salary and other suitable facilities are extended to them through a separate legislation brought into force on 1 November 1977