BJP appoints new chief whips in Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha

Former Union Minister Shiv Pratap Shukla and BJP MP Rakesh Singh have been appointed the party's chief whips in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, respectively, sources said on Tuesday.

Shukla, the Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, will replace Narayan Panchariya who recently retired from the upper house.

Singh will replace Sanjay Jaiswal, the party's Bihar unit chief, in compliance with the BJP's 'one person, one post' criterion.

Singh was BJP's chief whip in the previous Lok Sabha but left the post after he was appointed the party's Madhya Pradesh unit head in 2018.

Both these appointments are clear indication that the party is gearing up for the monsoon session which is expected to start from last week of August or in September.

Meanwhile, amid the quarantine norms due to the coronavirus pandemic, 45 of the recently elected 61 MPs of Rajya Sabha have given their confirmation to take oath on Wednesday.

This will be the first time when MPs will take oath in the upper house chamber when the house is not in session.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, who recently joined BJP, Digvijaya Singh, the former leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar are among those who will take oath in presence of Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.