Piyush Goyal appointed Leader of House in Rajya Sabha

Senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal was on Wednesday appointed as the Leader of House in the Rajya Sabha. The position was vacant ever since Thawarchand Gehlot was appointed as the governor of Karnataka.

Piyush Goyal holds key portfolios in the government and has been a member of the Rajya Sabha since 2010.

Goyal's appointment comes ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament, which will begin on July 19 and will conclude on August 13. This will be the first session after the second wave of COVID-19, which was far more worse than the first.

Earlier on Tuesday, top BJP leaders and Union ministers, including party president J P Nadda, Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, held a meeting to discuss matters related to the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament and frame the party's strategy to counter the opposition. The BJP leaders held wide ranging discussions on the party's floor strategy for the upcoming session and also to ensure the passage of important bills and financial business including Supplementary Demands for Grants.

Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhupender Yadav and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and ministers of state Arjun Ram Meghwal and V Muraleedharan, among others, were present in the meeting.

In a major Cabinet reshuffle earlier this month, Goyal who held the portfolio of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, was given an additional charge of the Ministry of Textiles.