A parliamentary committee has been formed to examine six bills referred by the government.
New Delhi: The latest parliamentary reshuffle announced on Tuesday has resulted in Congress losing its chairmanship of the Home Affairs Committee, giving the ruling BJP control over External Affairs, Defence, and Finance.
In the latest reconstitution of parliamentary panels, Congress was also denied the chairmanship of Information and Technology.
Commerce and Chemicals Fertilizers — two key parliamentary committees — have not been appointed, but will likely be given to Congress, sources said.
Each party’s strength in either house determines the number of committees.
The secretariats of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have notified the latest reconstitution of parliamentary panels, changing the chairpersons of several committees.
As chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, former Uttar Pradesh DGP Brijlal replaces Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Prataprao Jadhav has been appointed head of the Parliamentary Panel on Information Technology in place of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is contesting the party’s presidential election.
In addition to taking up several criticisms of the government, Tharoor’s committee was in the news throughout the year.
After the reshuffle, the Trinamool Congress was not given the chairmanship of any parliamentary committee, including the Parliamentary Panel on Food and Consumer Affairs.
BJP MP Locket Chatterjee will chair the panel on food.
As the third largest party in Parliament, the TMC also receives no chairmanships. This is the stark reality of New India,” said Derek O’Brien, the TMC leader in Rajya Sabha. “The largest opposition party loses two crucial chairmanships of Standing committees.”
Both Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Samajwadi Party lost their chairmanships of the panels on Industry and Health.
TRS leader Keshav Rao has been replaced by DMK leader Tiruchi Siva as chairperson of the panel on Industry, and BJP MP Vivek Thakur has replaced SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav as chairperson of the panel on Health.
In the latest restructuring, BJP’s erstwhile ally JD(U) has also been given a committee position. A panel on urban development will now be chaired by Rajiv Ranjan Singh.