Piyush Goyal appointed Leader of House in Rajya Sabha

He was divested of Railways portolio in the last week's Cabinet reshuffle

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will be the new Leader of House in Rajya Sabha, succeeding Thaawarchand Gehlot who was appointed Karnataka Governor last week.

Goyal was the Deputy Leader of House under Gehlot, who was the then Social Justice and Empowerment Minister before his appointment as Governor ahead of the Cabinet reshuffle.

The 57-year-old leader, who is the son of late BJP veteran Ved Prakash Goyal, is currently the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Textiles and Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution. He was divested of Railways portolio in the last week's reshuffle.

A Chartered Accountant by profession, Goyal is becoming the Leader of House in Rajya Sabha though there were speculation about Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman getting the post owing to her seat in crucial Cabinet Committee on Security and others. Names of Dharmendra Pradhan and Bhupendra Yadav were also in speculation.

However, sources said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP leadership decided to elevate Goyal, who was appointed Deputy Leader of Rajya Sabha in June 2019 after former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made way to Gehlot.

Jaitley had stayed away from the Cabinet in the second term of Modi government owing to health reasons following which Gehlot was appointed Leader of House.

Goyal, who also held the post of BJP National Treasurer, was elevated to Cabinet rank in September 2017. He was till then Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power.

Hugely trusted by Modi, he was also given the charge of the Ministry of Finance twice when Jaitley went abroad for treatment. He also headed the BJP's Information Communication Campaign Committee during 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

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