New Delhi, Aug. 12: Shashi Shekhar Vempati, the chief executive officer of Prasar Bharati, was today given additional charge of Rajya Sabha TV, triggering speculation that the move could be the first step towards the takeover of the channel by the public broadcaster.

The appointment order was issued by the Rajya Sabha secretariat after it accepted the resignation of former CEO and editor-in-chief of RSTV, Gurdeep Singh Sappal.

Sappal, who was also officer on special duty to former Vice-President Hamid Ansari, is said to have put in his papers in anticipation of a shake-up in RSTV.

Although there has been talk of a possible merger of Rajya Sabha TV and Lok Sabha TV after Ansari handed over charge to M. Venkaiah Naidu, the decision to bring in the Prasar Bharati CEO has taken many by surprise. Insiders, however, said this could be an interim arrangement. The official order does not indicate this.

The new CEO took charge in the evening. Prasar Bharati chairman A. Surya Prakash tweeted: "Change is in the air in Rajya Sabha TV. Very best to @shashidigital in added responsibility."

Now that the suspense over the CEO is over, the next big question is who will be recruited as RSTV editor-in-chief.

Questions are likely to be raised by Opposition MPs about the move to induct the Prasar Bharati CEO because RSTV is technically a channel of the Rajya Sabha and is funded by the legislature. Prasar Bharati is funded by the executive and the decision to have the same person head both is likely to be seen as an aberration to the principle of separation of powers.

RSTV was launched during the Rajya Sabha chairmanship of Ansari and has become a well-respected channel offering informed discussions on a range of issues without the sound and fury integral to many private news channel.

Right-wingers, however, accused it of having a Leftist slant, and an overhaul was expected to follow the change of guard in the Rajya Sabha.

Before the two Houses set up their own independent channels - Lok Sabha TV being the first in 2006 under then Speaker Somnath Chatterjee - proceedings used to be telecast live by Doordarshan.

Telecast of parliamentary proceedings began in a small way in 1989 with the live broadcast of the President's address to members of both houses of Parliament. Subsequently, Question Hour used to be telecast live. Live telecast of both channels came years later in December 2004.