New Delhi: Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Sushma Swaraj were today (June 1, 2004) appointed deputy leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Parliamentary Party in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively.

Malhotra and Swaraj will also be the spokespersons of the BJPPP, party president M Venkaiah Naidu announced.

Maj Gen (retd) B C Khanduri will be the party's Chief Whip in Lok Sabha and S S Ahluwalia has been made Chief Whip in Rajya Sabha, he said.

These decisions were taken after consultations with the chairman of the BJP Parliamentary Party Atal Bihari Vajpayee and its leader L K Advani, he said.

Santosh Gangwar (Lok Sabha) and Rambaksha Verma (Rajya Sabha) have been made secretaries of the Parliamentary Party and G M Sidheshwar will be the treasurer, he said.