Union minister Piyush Goyal was on Wednesday named the Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha. Piyush Goyal, who held the post of deputy floor leader for Rajya Sabha, will succeed senior BJP leader Thawarchand Gehlot as the Leader of the House.

Veteran BJP leader and former Union minister Thaawarchand Gehlot on Sunday took oath as the 19th Governor of Karnataka succeeding Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala.

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

Over the last two years, Piyush Goyal has played an active part in BJP’s efforts in the Rajya Sabha to negotiate with opposition parties not aligned with Congress and fence-sitters like BJD, AIADMK.

Bhupender Yadav, now a Cabinet minister and a lawyer by profession, was also in the race for the post of the Leader of House in Rajya Sabha. Yadav had earned the sobriquet of “committee man” due to his expertise on parliamentary select committees.

Meanwhile, top sources in the Congress said that Rahul Gandhi might replace Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as the leader of the party in Lok Sabha.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha since June 2019.

The names of MP Manish Tewari from Ludhiana, Shashi Tharoor from Kerala, Gaurav Gogoi from Assam, Ravneet Singh Bittu from Punjab and Uttam Kumar Reddy from Telangana are also doing the rounds.

Sources claimed former Congress president Rahul Gandhi would not take up the position. However, a senior Congress leader, preferring anonymity, said Rahul Gandhi was still in the reckoning.

The monsoon session of Parliament begins on July 19. The Congress party is expected to demand an investigation by a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the Rafale deal during the session. The Rafale issue is back on the Congress’ agenda after a French court ordered an investigation into alleged corruption in the Rs 59,000 crore deal.