Dr Manmohan Singh's seat shifted to last row in RS, here's why

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh has been shifted from a seat on the front row of the Rajya Sabha to the last, with Congress party sources on Thursday saying the move was to facilitate the wheelchair-bound leader's easy movement.

Senior Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Digvijaya Singh will now occupy front-row seats after their reallocation by the party.

The Congress effected the reallocation of seats this session.

It was supposed to carry out the exercise in the last session.

Party sources said former prime minister Singh, 90, has been allotted the last-row seat for his convenience as he is now wheelchair-bound.

They said Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will continue to occupy his front-row seat beside Deputy Chairman of the House Harivansh.

The remaining front row occupants from the opposition are former prime minister H D Deve Gowda (Janata Dal-Secular), Sanjay Singh (Aam Aadmi Party), Prem Chand Gupta (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Derek O'Brien (Trinamool Congress), K Keshava Rao (Bharat Rashtra Samiti) and Tiruchi Siva (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam).

The Bharatiya Janata Party, the sources said, has also made some changes in the seating arrangements in the last rows while its front row occupants remained unchanged.