After sharp comments of Shashi Tharoor over the non-appointment of opposition member as the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla nominated Shashi Tharoor as a member of the external affair panel. Shashi Tharoor had objected to the BJP government’s decision after he was not appointed the chairman of the panel.
It's official: Govt has decided to end the tradition of the leading Opposition party chairing the External Affairs Committee. Apparently a BJP MP will now hold the BJP Govt accountable instead. One more blow to our soft power, image&international reputation as a mature democracy. https://t.co/J1IKB3BK5V
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 13, 2019
Lok Sabha secretariat issued a bulletin today that read “The speaker has changed the nomination of Deepak Baij from Committee on External Affairs to Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers, and also nominated Dr. Shashi Tharoor to the Committee on External Affairs.”
In the recent announcement of the formation of parliamentary committees, Shashi Tharoor was made the head of the panel on information and technology. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and Congress MP Karti Chidambaram are also among the members of this committee.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who was earlier a member of the panel on external affairs has now been shifted to the parliamentary panel on defense, which is headed by Jual Oram.
Earlier, Opposition parties had expressed their concerns over the delayed formation of parliamentary committees. According to the previous notion, it was supposed to be announced in the early days of September. In 2014, the committees were notified on September 1.