Government of India announced the constitution of different parliamentary panels on Friday. Many standing committees such as finance, external affairs, and Information Technology were formed.
Bhartiya Janta Party leaders Jayant Sinha and PP Choudhary will head the panels on finance and external affairs respectively. Previously, Congress leaders Veerappa Moily and Shashi Tharoor used to chair these two committees.
To this, Shashi Tharoor said that the government has decided to end the tradition of Opposition party chairing the parliamentary panel on external affairs. He took to Twitter to explain his views.
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
BJP's Jayant Sinha appointed as Committee on Finance's Chairperson,BJD's Pinaki Misra&Cong' Digvijaya Singh also appointed as members. BJP's PP Chaudhary appointed as Committee on External Affairs's Chairperson, Congress' P Chidambaram&SP's Jaya Bachchan also appointed as members pic.twitter.com/nKw0nJDtRA
— ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2019
Shashi Tharoor has been made the head of the Standing Committee on Information 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 a different panel. He has been moved to the parliamentary panel on defense, which is headed by Jual Oram.
Congress MPs have also been made the head of several committees. Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma will now be the chairperson of the Committee on Home Affairs. Other members of this committee include Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, BJP MPs Dilip Ghosh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, and Kirron Kher.
Congress' Anand Sharma appointed as the Chairperson of Committee on Home Affairs, BJP's Jamyang Tsering Namgyal also appointed as a member. BJP's TG Venkatesh appointed as the Chairperson of Committee on Transport, Tourism & Culture; Sumalatha Ambareesh also appointed as a member pic.twitter.com/aFQfCba6zD
— ANI (@ANI) September 13, 2019
In another appointment, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh has been named as the head of Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests. AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen) MP Asaduddin Owaisi and BJP MPs Sakshi Maharaj are also on the panel.
Previously, Opposition parties had expressed their concerns over the slow-paced formation of parliamentary committees. It was to be announced in the early days of September as going by the previous notion, In 2014, the committees were notified on September 1.