On Wednesday, the day before their terms in the Rajya Sabha came to an end, Naqvi and Singh both handed in their resignation letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Digital desk: Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia have been handed over additional charges for the minority affairs and steel ministries after the resignations of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Ram Chandra Prasad Singh.
On Wednesday, the day before their terms in the Rajya Sabha came to an end, Naqvi and Singh both handed in their resignation letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to a press release from Rashtrapati Bhavan, "The President of India has accepted the resignations of Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect, in accordance with clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution."
Meanwhile, Naqvi's resignation came amid rumours that the BJP was actively considering someone from the minority community as its candidate for the post of Vice President. He had met both PM Modi and BJP president JP Nadda earlier in the day.
Since Naqvi, who was also the Deputy Leader of the Rajya Sabha, resigned, there will be no Muslim MPs among the 395 members of the BJP. In the most recent round of Rajya Sabha elections to 57 seats across 15 states, Naqvi was one of three BJP Muslim MPs whose terms expired; however, the party did not nominate any of them for reelection.
It may be mentioned that one year after joining the Union cabinet on his party's quota, Singh, a former bureaucrat and former confidant of Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar and leader of the JD(U), resigned on his birthday.
Continue Reading
