Union Ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, RCP Singh resign after PM Modi-chaired Cabinet meet

Union Ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and RCP Singh have resigned, Republic learnt on Wednesday. Sources told the channel that in the cabinet meeting held earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the contributions of Naqvi, who held the Minority Affairs portfolio and Singh, who held the steel portfolio, and acknowledged that it was their last meeting.

Both the Ministers are members of the Rajya Sabha, and their tenure is to end tomorrow. While Janata Dal-United had denied giving Singh a ticket last month, it has now been clear, that Naqvi also won't get a ticket from the Bharatiya Janata for membership in the Upper House of the Parliament.

Lone Muslim face in Cabinet Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi resigns

Jailed during the Emergency at the age of 17, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has been associated with the saffron party since its Jan Sangh days. He contested as a BJP candidate in the 1991 and 1993 Uttar Pradesh elections and the Lok Sabha polls in 1998, 1999 and 2009. By winning from Rampur in 1998, he became BJP's first Muslim candidate to be elected to the Lower House. Subsequently, he served as the MoS for Information and Broadcasting in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government. 

He was elected to the Rajya Sabha thrice- in 2002, 2010 and 2016. Naqvi was inducted into PM Modi's Council of Ministers in 2014 and functioned as the MoS for Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs. He has been serving as the Cabinet Minister for Minority Affairs from 2016 onwards and was also named the Deputy Leader of Rajya Sabha in July last year. As he was not nominated to the Upper House in the recent round of elections, BJP will have no Muslim face in the Cabinet as well as Parliament. 

Non-BJP face RCP Singh resigns

A former civil servant who worked as Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's principal secretary, RCP Singh joined JDU after taking voluntary retirement from the IAS in 2010. A member of the Rajya Sabha since 2010, he climbed the ranks of Nitish Kumar's party rapidly and became its national president in 2020. Meanwhile, he also became the lone JDU MP to be inducted into the Union Cabinet in July 2021.

Amid rumours of his strained ties with Kumar, the Union Steel Minister was ignored for a Rajya Sabha berth with JDU reposing faith in former MLA Khiru Mahto instead. Speculation about his joining BJP gained traction after he was welcomed by BJP leaders in Hyderabad when the National Executive meeting was underway. However, the saffron party dismissed this claim and contended that Singh must have arrived in Telangana's capital city to take part in a government programme.