BJP president and Union minister Nadda named Leader of Rajya Sabha

JP Nadda. File Pic

BJP president and Union minister JP Nadda has been named Leader of the Rajya Sabha, reported PTI on Monday.

Nadda replaces Union minister Piyush Goyal. Goyal recently won the Lok Sabha elections and on Monday took oath as a member of the Lok Sabha, said the PTI report.

Earlier this month, Nadda was handed the Ministry of Health. He has also been given charge also of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, which houses the Department of Pharmaceuticals

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

Besides Nadda, there are 11 members of the Upper House who are in the Union Council of Minister.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh welcomed the appointment of J P Nadda as the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, and hoped he will take the opposition along by allowing it to raise its issues.

"Greetings to J P Nadda ji on his being nominated as the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha. As Venkaiah Naidu garu might have said - if the Leader of the House can accommodate, the Opposition can cooperate," Ramesh, the chief whip of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, said in a post on 'X'.

Maharashtra BJP core committee meeting concludes; leaders leave from Deputy CM Fadnavis's residence

The Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party core committee concluded after which the leaders left from Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's residence on Friday. Earlier on June 18, Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired the Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) core group meeting at party headquarters in Delhi along with BJP national president JP Nadda.

The meeting comes a day after Nadda appointed state election in-charges and co-in-charges for the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir which are going to polls this year.

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Bhupender Yadav has been appointed as the incharge for Maharashtra while Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will be the co-incharge for the state, according to a statement issued by the party.

The Maharashtra Assembly elections are scheduled to be held this year to elect 288 members of the state's legislative assembly.

The BJP dipped to nine seats in Maharashtra against 23 in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The vote share stood at 26.18 per cent. The Congress, on the other hand, marginally improved its seat share by securing 13 seats in the state.

The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won seven and one seats respectively, taking the total tally of the NDA to 17. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackrey) got nine seats while the Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar won eight seats.