Congress loses key Parliamentary panels to BJP

Congress has lost the chairmanship of two key parliamentary standing committees of Finance and External Affairs as the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla signed off on the list of panels that keep a hawk-eye on the government functioning on late Friday night.

BJP member and former junior law minister P P Choudhary will chair the Standing Committee on External Affairs, which was helmed by Shashi Tharoor in the previous Lok Sabha.

Former junior finance minister Jayant Sinha will chair the committee on Finance, a panel that was headed by M Veerappa Moily in the last Lok Sabha.

The Finance Committee was in the eye of a controversy over its report on demonetisation.

Congress leaders cried foul over the denial of the chairmanship to the committees on Finance and External Affairs and accused the government of ending the tradition of having the opposition leaders lead the crucial panels.

“Apparently a BJP MP will now hold the BJP government accountable instead. One more blow to our soft power image and international reputation as a mature democracy,” Tharoor said.

The government has cited the increased strength of the BJP while staking claim to lead the key panels.

Bagalkot member P C Gaddigoudar will chair the committee on agriculture, while former Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram will head the panel on Defence.

Congress has got the chairmanship of the committees on Home Affairs, Science and Technology and Environment and Forests and Information Technology. Senior leader Anand Sharma will chair the panel on Home Affairs, while Jairam Ramesh will be heading the committee on Science and Technology while Tharoor has got to helm the panel on Information Technology.

DMK leader Kanimozhi will be the chairperson of the committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers, while Trinamool leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay gets to chair the panel on Food, Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution.

Senior BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab has been made the chairman of the Committee on Labour, while BJP Rajya Sabha member T G Venkatesh, who recently quit the TDP, has landed the chairmanship of the committee on Transport, Tourism, and Culture.

A vocal BJP member from Delhi, Ramesh Bidhuri, has been given the chairmanship of the Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas, while former Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has been made the chairman of the panel on Railways.

Among the allies, Shiv Sena member Prataprao Jadhav has been given the chairmanship of the committee on Rural Development and JD(U) member Rajiv Ranjan Singh will chair the panel on Energy.

SP member Ram Gopal Yadav will head the panel on Health and Family Welfare, while YSRCP member V Vijayasai Reddy will chair the committee on Commerce. TRS member K Keshav Rao will be the chairman of the committee on Industry.

The Committee on Law & Justice, Personnel and Public Grievances will be helmed by senior BJP leader Bhupender Yadav, while the panel on HRD will be headed by former union minister Satyanarayan Jatiya.