September 26th 2024.
On Thursday, the formation of Parliament's standing committees was announced, with BJP's Bhartruhari Mahtab chosen to lead the important Finance panel and Congress' Shashi Tharoor at the helm of the External Affairs panel. These committees, comprising members from various parties, function as mini parliaments and monitor the operations of different ministries. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat released a communique to notify the formation of these committees.
Former Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh will chair the Defence committee and BJP member Radha Mohan Das Agrawal will lead the Home Affairs panel. Interestingly, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is a member of the Defence committee, but Sonia Gandhi's name is not listed in any of the committees. Other prominent parties like TDP and Janata Dal, along with BJP's partners in Maharashtra - Shiv Sena and NCP, will also be heading one committee each.
NCP's Sunil Tatkare will chair the Petroleum and Natural Gas committee and Shiv Sena's Shrirang Appa Barne will lead the Energy committee. JD's Sanjay Jha will head the Transport, Tourism, and Culture committee, while TDP's Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy will take charge of the Housing and Urban Affairs committee. Congress members Charanjit Singh Channi and Saptagiri Ulaka have been appointed as chairpersons of the Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Food Processing committee; and the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj committee respectively.
DMK's Tiruchi Siva and K Kanimozhi will chair the Industry committee and the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution committee respectively. Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur and Rajiv Pratap Rudy have been given the responsibility of leading the Coal, Mines, and Steel committee and the Water Resources committee respectively. BJP member Nishikant Dubey has been appointed as the chairman of the Communications and Information Technology committee.
It is worth noting that in the previous Lok Sabha, Dubey and Tharoor had a conflict as Tharoor was the chair of the Committee and IT panel. However, Tharoor was replaced as the chair in 2022. This decision has been met with mixed reactions. Overall, the formation of these committees is an important step in ensuring the smooth functioning of the Parliament and keeping a check on the government's actions.
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