It has been nearly four months since the new Lok Sabha was elected in June this year after the national elections, but there has been no consensus on the standing committees that need to be formed. Sources aware of the development told News18 that the term of the new committees, which should ideally have begun from the first week of September, may be delayed by a few days.
The sources added that a buoyant Opposition wants to demand its pound of flesh, including getting the chairmanship of several important parliamentary standing panels.
In the last term of the Lok Sabha, given its overwhelming majority, the BJP had control of most of the important standing panels. However, with the Congress having 99 MPs in Lok Sabha and Samajwadi Party standing at 37, both parties have demanded that they should be given appropriate representation in terms of chairs of committees.
Those aware of the developments said at present, the opposition parties want their chairpersons to lead committees like defence, external affairs, social justice, and others.
If the Grand Old Party is given chairmanship of the external affairs committee, it is likely to ask former foreign minister Shashi Tharoor to chair the panel. Tharoor, who was appointed chairman of the IT committee, was involved in a bitter war of words with Nishikant Dubey and other BJP MPs after which he was dropped from the committee and made to chair the standing committee for chemical and fertilisers.
Sources have also said the Congress would like to chair the crucial finance committee with former Union minister Manish Tiwari at the helm.
The parliamentary affairs ministry, however, has reached out to the Opposition to convey that these are extremely important committees and are unlikely to be given to the latter.
“Not only BJP, but we have many allies in the government who need to be given these committees. The Opposition needs to understand that the numbers eventually are with the NDA,” a source said.
The sources also added that TDP may want a committee like urban development, while the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena would like to chair the committee on renewable energy.
In the coming days, the Parliamentary Affairs team, led by Union minister Kiren Rijiju, is likely to speak to the opposition parties again and seek their consensus on the issue.
During their conversation with the Opposition, the ministers have said they believe in following tradition which is why a crucial financial committee like the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been given to the Congress under the chairmanship of KC Venugopal.
Several Members of Parliament have expressed their displeasure over the delay in naming the committees, with Trinamool Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien penning a letter on the issue.
In the last Lok Sabha term, former Union minister Jayant Sinha headed the finance committee, while former law minister PP Chaudhary was the chairman of the external affairs committee. Jual Oram, a cabinet minister in the Narendra Modi government, was heading the defence committee.
Despite strong opposition from the Congress and a demand that they be made the chairman of the home affairs committee of the Rajya Sabha, the BJP announced Brijlal as the chairman of the panel in which former Union minister P Chidambaram is also member.
With a substantial number of members in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the last term, YSRCP Member of Parliament Vijaysai Reddy was made the chairman of the tourism committee.
Among the opposition parties, it was the TMC which was not given chairmanship of any committee — a move that the Mamata Banerjee-led party attributed to political vendetta. This time, TMC is likely to ask for the committee on railways and food processing.
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