The standing committees of Parliament were announced on Thursday. In this, leaders of various parties have been given the responsibility of important committees. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s B Mahtab has been appointed chairman of the committee on finance, an important post. The command of the Foreign Affairs Committee has been handed over to Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, while the Home Affairs Committee will be headed by BJP’s Radha Mohan Das Agarwal. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi has been made a member of the Committee on Defence.
Department-related standing committees with representation from all parties act as mini-parliaments and monitor the functioning of various ministries. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat issued a release announcing the notification regarding the committees. It said that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense will be chaired by former Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh, while the Committee on Home Affairs will be chaired by BJP member Radha Mohan Das Agarwal.
Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s name is not in any committee. Apart from key BJP allies like Telugu Desam Party and Janata Dal (United), its Maharashtra allies Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will lead one committee each. NCP’s lone Lok Sabha member Sunil Tatkare will head the committee on petroleum and natural gas, while Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Appa Barne will head the parliamentary committee on energy. The command of the education committee will be in the hands of Congress leader Digvijay Singh.
JD(United)’s Sanjay Jha will chair the committee on transport, tourism and culture, while Telugu Desam Party’s Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy will chair the committee on housing and urban affairs. Congress members Charanjit Singh Channi and Saptagiri Ulaka have been made chairmen of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj committees respectively. Tiruchi Siva and Kanimozhi of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) will chair parliamentary committees on industry and consumer affairs, food and public distribution respectively.
Out of the total 24 department-related standing committees, 11 have been headed by BJP members, while four committees have been headed by its allies. Congress leaders will chair four committees, followed by two committees each headed by DMK and Trinamool Congress MPs and one parliamentary standing committee headed by Samajwadi Party MPs.
Former Union ministers Anurag Thakur and Rajiv Pratap Rudy have been given the chairmanship of the Coal, Mines and Steel and Water Resources committees respectively. BJP member Nishikant Dubey has been made the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology. BJP MP from Mandi, Himachal, Kangana Ranaut has also been made a member of this committee. The committee on health will be headed by SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, while Trinamool Congress members Dola Sen and Kirti Azad will head the committees on commerce and chemicals and fertilizers respectively.
The committee related to Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice will be headed by BJP’s Brijlal. Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Bar Council of India Chairman Manan Mishra are members of this committee. BJP members Bhuvaneshwar Kalita and Basavaraj Bommai will chair the committees on science and technology, environment, forest and climate change and labour, respectively. The committee on social justice and empowerment will be headed by BJP’s PC Mohan, while the committee on railways will be headed by CM Ramesh.
