Shashi Tharoor, Jairam Ramesh retain Parliament panel chairs

Harsimrat Kaur Badal nominated to Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs

Former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal was on Tuesday nominated to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs as Lok Sabha Speaker re-constituted the panels known as ‘mini parliaments’.

Contrary to the speculation, Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor, Jairam Ramesh and Anand Sharma have retained their posts as chairmen of the standing committees on Information Technology, Science & Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change and Home Affairs respectively.

Tharoor was in the BJP crosshairs over his pursuit of the allegations of bias against Facebook and WhatsApp, as reported in a section of the international media. BJP leaders Nishikant Dubey and Rajyavardhan Rathore had demanded Tharoor’s ouster.

Ramesh was under attack from BJP members over the deliberations on the Environment Impact Assessment notifications and the face-off with Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi is not a member of any of the Parliamentary standing committees, while former Congress President Rahul Gandhi is a member of the Committee on Defence.

YSRCP member V Vijaysai Reddy has retained his post as Chairman of the Committee on Commerce. Others are Vinay Sahasrabuddhe (HRD), K Keshav Rao (Industry), T G Venkatesh (Transport, Tourism and Culture), Ram Gopal Yadav (Health), Bhupender Yadav (Law and Justice), P C Gaddigoudar (Agriculture), Jual Oram (Defence), Rajiv Ranjan Singh (Energy), P P Chaudhary (External Affairs).

Former junior Finance Minister Jayant Sinha will chair the committee on Finance. Others are Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Food, Consumer Affairs & PublicDistribution), B Mahtab (Labour), Ramesh Bidhuri (Petroleum and Natural Gas), Radha Mohan Singh (Railways), Jagadambika Pal (Urban Affairs), Sanjay Jaiswal (Water Resources), Kanimozhi (Chemical and Fertilisers), Pratap Jadhav (Rural Development), Rakesh Singh (Coal and Steel), Rama Devi (Social Justice and Empowerment).