Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and RCP Singh face an uncertain future as union ministers a day before their Rajya Sabha membership expires. BJP’s Naqvi is the Union Minority Affairs minister, while NDA ally JD(U)’s RCP Singh is the Union Minister of Steel. As their term as Rajya Sabha members ends on July 7, both ministers will lose their position if they are not elected to any House of the Parliament within six months. In the recently concluded Upper House elections, both their names were not included in the list of nominees by their respective parties.
Ahead of the byelections in Uttar Pradesh, many reports suggested that Naqvi would be the probable BJP candidate from the Rampur constituency. The party had fielded Ghanshyam Lodhi instead in Samajwadi Party stalwart Azam Khan’s stronghold. Naqvi, who is the only Muslim minister in PM Narendra Modi’s cabinet, hails from Rampur. Now, fresh reports claim that the ruling party at the Centre may propose Naqvi’s name for the upcoming vice-presidential elections or may offer him the Governor/Lieutenant Governor role in some state or Union Territory.
After JD(U)’s RCP Singh fell out with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over Singh’s alleged proximity to BJP, the party didn’t field him as a candidate for the recently concluded Rajya Sabha elections. Kumar was purportedly unhappy with Singh for not consulting him before taking up the ministerial role at the Centre last year. Kumar even went on to allot Singh’s bungalow, where he was staying for the last ten years, to his Chief Secretary.
Amid rumours of Singh joining BJP, the party clarified that the former JD(U) national president hasn’t joined the party yet. Furthermore, the BJP Telangana’s tweet welcoming Singh to the recently-held BJP Executive Meet at Hyderabad had fueled further speculations.
As many as 12 members can be nominated by the President to the Rajya Sabha. It is still not clear if these two ministers will be nominated after the presidential polls with seven seats still empty in the Upper House.