From correspondents in Delhi, India, 07:00 PM IST

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Wednesday named Arun Jaitley as opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha and Sushma Swaraj as deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha.

Advani, who was named leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, was authorised by the BJP parliamentary party to choose office-bearers of the party in the two houses.

He named S.S. Ahluwalia as deputy leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

While Maya Singh was named chief whip of the party in Rajya Sabha, Ramesh Bais was named the party's chief whip in the lower house.

Former central minister Jaswant Singh was the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha but he has been elected to the Lok Sabha, creating the vacancy.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)