Sushilkumar Shinde takes over as leader of house

Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde will be the new leader of the house in Lok Sabha after he was nominated to the post by prime minister Manmohan Singh according to parliamentary affairs minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal.

The post of the leader of house in Lok Sabha fell vacant with president Pranab Mukherjee stepping down to fight the presidential elections last month.

The 71-year-old Shinde, a senior Congress leader from Maharashtra, represents Solapur Lok Sabha constituency in the state. A Dalit leader, he has served as the chief minister of Maharashtra and has been a member of the state assembly for seven terms.

Before shifting to the home ministry on Tuesday, Shinde, was power minister. He said he was grateful to the prime minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi for nominating him as leader of the house. Shinde has also served as governor of Andhra Pradesh.

Analysts say Shinde, with his wide experience spanning four decades in politics, had probably been preferred for the job as it required cooperation from opposition in transacting business on the floor.

Under existing rules, the prime minister assumes leadership of the house in case he is a member of the Lok Sabha, he nominates one of the members to post if he is not. The prime minister is a Rajya Sabha MP from Guwahati.