The BJP's Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has quit as Union Minister today amid speculation that his name is doing the rounds for the post of the second highest constitutional position, the Vice President. Union Minister RCP Singh, too, has tendered his resignation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have lauded Union ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Ram Chandra Prasad Singh's contribution to the country and the people during the Cabinet meeting today.
With their term as Rajya Sabha MP set to end on July 7, Modi's appreciation of their work is being seen as an indication that it was their last Cabinet meeting.
While Naqvi was in charge of the minority affairs ministry, Singh was the steel minister.
Soon after the Cabinet meeting, Naqvi met BJP president J P Nadda at the party headquarters here.
According to sources, this is the first time that a sitting minister has been out of both 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.
Naqvi, a senior BJP leader, is also the Deputy Leader of Rajya Sabha.
The Election Commission on July 5 issued a notification for the August 6 polls to elect the 16th Vice President, setting in motion the process of filing nominations by candidates.
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.
Pertinent to mention here, RCP Singh, who comes from an ally party in Bihar, JD(U), had sworn in as a minister in the 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.
A Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant in Tripura after the resignation of Manik Saha who was recently elected to the Tripura Assembly. Besides this, there is no Rajya Sabha seat which is going to be vacant in the next few months.