NEW DELHI, June 12:
The BJP today announced its Parliamentary Party Executive Committee with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its leader in Lok Sabha and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as the deputy leader.
In Rajya Sabha, Union Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot, a veteran Dalit face of the BJP, has been appointed as Leader of the House and his Cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal as the deputy leader.
Gehlot replaced senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Arun Jaitley as Leader of the house in Rajya Sabha. Jaitley had requested the leadership to relieve him from key positions in view of his poor health.
A party leader noted that this is the first time the BJP has made a Dalit lawmaker the leader of the Upper House of Parliament.
Union Minister Smriti Irani’s induction as a special invitee in the BJP’s Parliamentary Party Executive Committee underscores elevation in her stature within the party after she defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi from the Amethi Parliamentary constituency.
The party has appointed Sanjay Jaiswal as its chief whip. It also appointed for the first time three women MPs as its whips for women Parliamentarians. (PTI)
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