Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi appointed Deputy Leader of House in Rajya Sabha

File Photo (IANS)

New Delhi: Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was appointed as the Deputy Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha on Monday (July 19).

He succeeded Piyush Goyal, who has been appointed as the Leader of House.

"The prime minister has directed me to inform that Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Union Minister of Minority Affairs, has been appointed as the Deputy Leader of the Rajya Sabha," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said in a written communication to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.

Naqvi currently serves as the Minister of Minority Affairs in the Narendra Modi government. He is the only person from the Muslim community in the current cabinet. He is a Rajya Sabha member since July 2016.

In Modi’s first term as PM, Naqvi served as the minister of state for parliamentary affairs.

He was also a member of the council of ministers in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day after repeated disruptions on the first day of the Monsoon Session. The Opposition sought to corner the government over fuel price hikes and Pegasus snooping controversy among other issues.