New Delhi: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi resigned from the Union Cabinet today as his Rajya Sabha term will come to an end on Thursday. The resignation has sparked speculation that he may be Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) choice for Vice President of India.

With Naqvi’s resignation BJP will have no Muslim MP among its 395 Members of Parliament. He was among the three BJP Muslim parliamentarians whose term ended recently and none of them were renominated by the party. The Upper House term of two other Muslim MPs of the party MJ Akbar and Syed Zafar Islam has already ended.

Naqvi met the BJP president JP Nadda and Prime Minister Narendra Modi before handing in his papers. Naqvi and Rajnath are the only two ministers who were also in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led BJP government.

The saffron party may make plans to reach out to Muslims after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the BJP leaders at its recent National Executive Meeting in Hyderabad to consider reaching out to people other than Hindus. As part of the outreach plans, the ruling party at the Centre has been discussing a representative of a minority community for the second highest constitutional post.

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Venkaiah Naidu’s term as Vice President will end on August 10. Reports suggest that the saffron party may also consider Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, former Union Minister Najma Heptulla and former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for the second top job.