New Delhi: In the latest parliamentary rejig on Tuesday, opposition parties were revoked of the chairmanship of any of the four key parliamentary panels including the committee on home affairs and information technology. The grand old party will now chair the panels of chemicals & fertilizers and commerce.
The reshuffling has dismissed a dozen of chairpersons including Trinamool Congress any chairman’s post, while the Samajwadi Party is no longer in charge of the health committee. The food, consumer affairs and public distribution committee has been taken away from the Trinamool and the BJP’s Bengal MP Locket Chatterjee is the new chairperson.
According to the officials, at least four chairpersons have lost their seats and six lawmakers have been elevated as panel heads. All changes have been made with effect from September 13.
The IT panel, which was earlier chaired by Shashi Tharoor, is now under Prataprao Jadhav of the Shiv Sena’s Shinde faction. The BJP’s Jagdambika Pal will head the energy committee instead of the urban development committee, which will now be headed by Rajiv Ranjan (Lallan) Singh of the JD(U).
With the latest rejig, the chair of six major parliamentary committees — Home, IT, Defence, External Affairs, Finance and Health all are now with the BJP and its allies.
It is worth noting that it is for the first time in three decades, opposition parties have not been given the chairmanship of any of the four key parliamentary panels.