By G Krishna Mohan Rao*
Besides Naqvi, RCP Singh also quits Union Cabinet
New Delhi: Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today resigned from the cabinet amidst speculations that he could be the Vice Presidential candidate of the government. However, sources close to Naqvi denied the reports of him being the candidate for the vice presidency. Intense speculations are doing rounds in the Parliament and ministerial circles over the likely candidate for Vice President, as the nomination process is in progress for the August 6 election. July 17 is the last date for filing nominations.
Sources at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters did not rule out Naqvi emerging as the candidate given his vast experience as a union minister besides being a member of Rajya Sabha for 20 years and presently he is the deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha.
In view of India’s foreign policy taking a severe beating, particularly in the Gulf and the Middle East in recent times, the government is said to be looking for a face from the minority community as its Vice President candidate to refurbish its image. Further, Naqvi also had the experience of being an external affairs minister in the past and was quite familiar with the Gulf and West Asian politics. Other names doing rounds for the Vice Presidency are those of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Jammu and Kashmir Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha. Sources say, former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who decided to merge his party into the BJP, could emerge as a dark horse for the top post. Party sources made it clear that in another 4 or 5 days, the NDA candidate would be declared. Parliament sources said that the NDA has got a clear edge in the election with 453 members in the total house of 784.
As per Article 66 of the Constitution, the Vice President of India is elected by the members of the electoral college consisting of the members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in accordance with the system of proportional representation with the single transferable vote. For the coming election, the electoral college consists of 233 elected and 12 nominated members of the Rajya Sabha and 543 members of Lok Sabha with a total of 784 MPs. The ruling BJP’s strength alone in both the Houses is working up to 398 MPs.
Today, besides Naqvi, Union Minister for Steel, RCP Singh, also sent in his resignation.
These two Union Ministers will cease to be members of Rajya Sabha from tomorrow. They will have to resign from the Union Cabinet tomorrow according to the procedure. During the last month’s Rajya Sabha biennial elections, both were denied re-nomination to the Upper House. According to sources, this is the first time that a sitting minister has been out of both the Houses of Parliament.
There is a precedent that both may continue as a minister for another six months before they get re-elected to either House but in this case, they will have to take the oath of office of Minister again. Recently several BJP leaders were elected to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. However, the party did not give a Rajya Sabha ticket to Naqvi.
RCP Singh, who belongs to the BJP ally – Janata Dal (United) in Bihar, had sworn in as a minister in the Narendra Modi government a year ago on July 7, 2021. However, in the recent announcement of the Rajya Sabha tickets, Nitish Kumar denied RCP Singh’s election to the Rajya Sabha.
On the other side, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has been given the responsibility of fielding a joint common candidate for the Vice-Presidential polls. Sources said that Mallikarjun Kharge, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, is expected to hold the first meeting of the Congress party on the Vice-Presidential election before July 10, 2022. It is learnt that the Congress has not yet made up its mind on whether the candidate for Vice-President would be from the Congress or from any other Opposition party. Sources said that the priority is to build a consensus among all Opposition parties.
Top photo: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
*Senior Journalist
