New Delhi : Senior lawmakers who did not become ministers and top allies were accommodated as chairs of parliamentary standing committees that were announced on Thursday night, with the Opposition also expanding its presence as heads of the key panels.
Former chief minister of Karnataka, Basavaraj Bommai, will lead the labour, textiles and skill development committee and veteran lawmaker Bhubaneswar Kalita was appointed chairman of the environment, science and technology panel.
Other chairpersons included former Union ministers Anurag Thakur (coal, mines and steel) and Radha Mohan Singh (defence).
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will continue to be in the defence committee and Congress chief and Rajya Sabha LoP Mallikarjun Kharge opted out of standing committees. Sonia Gandhi, now a Rajya Sabha member, was also not included in any panel.
The communications and information technology committee, a panel that plays a key role in overseeing India’s digital and technological growth, is headed by Bharatiya Janata Party’s Nishikant Dubey and has Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra as one of its members. First-time lawmaker Kangana Ranaut is also a member of the panel.
In 2023, Dubey had lodged a cash for query complaint against Moitra, based on the allegations levelled by her former friend Jai Dehadrai. It led to Moitra’s expulsion in the last winter session of the previous Lok Sabha.
As per rules, a Lok Sabha member is entitled to be a member of a standing committee. Of the 24 standing committees, 16 are led by Lok Sabha MPs and the remaining are chaired by Rajya Sabha lawmakers.
The posts were decided by the chairs of the two houses after informal consultations between the parties.
Seven-term MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, who joined the BJP from the Biju Janata Dal weeks before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, was given the chairmanship of the finance committee.
Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a former Union minister, will lead the water resources committee.
The BJP’s national general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Radhamohan Das Agarwal was appointed the chairperson of the committee on home affairs. Agarwal, who represents Uttar Pradesh, was also in charge of state elections in Karnataka and Rajasthan.
Brij Lal, a former IPS officer, was made chairman of the committee on personnel, public grievances law and justice. He is a former director general of police of Uttar Pradesh.
Senior leaders of the party who were expecting ministerial berths or positions in the national team of the party were accommodated as chairman of various committees. For instance, Bhubaneswar Kalita who joined the BJP on the day the bill for reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2019, was given chairmanship of the committee on science and technology, environment, forest and climate change.
Allies such as the Telugu Desam Party and the Janata Dal (United) were given crucial panel chair posts. The TDP, whose government in Andhra Pradesh has to build a new state capital in Amaravati, will head the housing and urban development panel. JD(U)’s working president Sanjay Jha was made chairman of the committee on transport at a time when the Bihar government is expecting massive expansion of infrastructure in the state.
“I am honoured to be appointed as the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism, and culture. Together with my esteemed fellow MPs, I look forward to contributing to the shaping of the policy landscape in crucial sectors like roads, civil aviation, shipping, tourism and culture,” Jha said on X.
Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Appa Chandu Barne led the energy panel, BJP’s CM Ramesh railways, Nationalist Congress Party’s Tatkare Sunil Dattatrey petroleum and natural gas, and BJP’s PC Mohan the social justice and empowerment panel.
The Trinamool Congress, one of the largest political parties in Parliament. nominated Kirti Azad and Dola Sen as chairpersons of standing committees. Azad, a Lok Sabha MP, will head the chemical and fertilisers panel while Sen will lead the commerce and industries committee.
The choices mark a key shift in the TMC’s parliamentary policy. In the 16th Lok Sabha, the party’s floor leaders — Sudip Bandopadhyay in the Lok Sabha and Derek O Brien in the Rajya Sabha – headed the two panels. “The decision to push Azad and Sen indicates that the TMC wants to reward senior lawmakers and not allow centralisation of power,” said a senior leader, requesting anonymity.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh will head the education, women, children, youth and sports committee while former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi will lead the agriculture, animal husbandry and food processing panel.
Former foreign affairs minister Shashi Tharoor will lead the external affairs panel and SP veteran Ram Gopal Yadav will continue to head the health committee.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Tiruchi Siva will head the industry committee and his party colleague Kanimozhi will lead the consumer affairs, food and public distribution committee.
