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Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. (File Image: PTI)
The BJP, which leads the ruling National Democratic Alliance, has retained the chairmanships of key committees such as home affairs, defence, finance and IT.
Parliament’s standing committees were constituted on Thursday, with Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi remaining a member of the defense committee.
like CNN-News18 first reportedThe Congress, which is the leading opposition party, gets the chairmanship of four committees. This includes external affairs, a ministry once headed by Dr Shashi Tharoor of the Congress, who will now head the relevant panel.
Congress members Charanjit Singh Channi and Saptagiri Ulaka were appointed as chairmen of the agriculture, animal husbandry and food processing and rural development and panchayati raj committees respectively.
For the Trinamool Congress, which has been dragging its feet on the Centre’s offers, its Lok Sabha MP Kirti Azad will head the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers, while Rajya Sabha MP Dhola Sen will head the panel on trade.
As also reported by CNN-News18, the Bharatiya Janata Party has also agreed with its allies. From the Janata Dal (United), Dr Sanjay Jha is now the Chairman of the Committee on Tourism, Transport and Culture. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) gets the chairmanship of the Housing and Urban Affairs Committee for Maguntha Srinivasulu Reddy. Shrirang Barne of the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde is the chairman of the committee on energy.
The BJP, which leads the ruling National Democratic Alliance, has retained the chairmanships of the most important committees. Dr. Radha Mohan Das Agarwal is now the Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, replacing Brij Lal. Senior Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Nishikant Dubey will head the IT committee. Radha Mohan Singh, another senior member of parliament and a former Union minister, will now head the defense committee. Former union minister Anurag Singh Thakur is the chairman of the coal and mines committee. Another senior member of parliament, Bhartruhari Mahtab, is the chairman of the crucial finance committee.
Former union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy has been appointed as the head of the water resources commission. Former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bomai has been given the chairmanship of the Committee on Labor and Textiles.
Controversial Member of Parliament from Mandi Kangana Ranaut will be a member of the IT committee. Actress and politician Jaya Bachchan of the Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi are also part of this panel.
Interestingly, TMC’s Mahua Moitra, who had a huge fight with BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, continues to be on the IT committee headed by him.
Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who was earlier on the Foreign Office Committee, will be a member of the Law and Justice Committee as a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha.
Government sources said it had been declared several times, including by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, that there would be no delay in the formation of the standing committees and the process was completed within the deadline before the end of September.
