Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, S Jaipal Reddy is likely to be the Leader of Lok Sabha and the decision to this effect is likely to be taken on Friday in the core committee meeting. Informal consultations between the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi has already taken place, say highly placed AICC sources.
The names of Jaipal Reddy, Minister for Power Sushil Kumar Shinde and Home Minister P Chidambaram are in the consideration list for the post earlier held by Pranab Mukhjeree.
He is a recipient of the outstanding Parliamentarian award.
S Jaipal Reddy is a five-time Lok Sabha MP and a two-time Rajya Sabha member. He has been elected to the Andhra Pradesh assembly four times. In 1991 Reddy was elected as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha when P V Narasimha Rao was prime minister.
Jaipal Reddy hails from Telangana and has even served under former PM Inder Kumar Gujral.