NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday constituted the first set of key parliamentary committees after the commencement of the 18th Lok Sabha, appointing one chairperson from the Congress, four from the BJP and none from NDA allies.
KC Venugopal, Congress general secretary and a confidant of LS Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, has been appointed chairperson of the all-important 22-member Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Several regional leaders have found representation on major panels. Punjab ex-Deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has replaced Ravneet Bittu (now with the BJP and a minister) as a Congress nominee in the Committee on Public Undertakings. Punjab ex-CM Charanjit Channi and senior Congress MP Kumari Selja find a place in the Committee on Estimates, which also has Haryana BJP MP Naveen Jindal. Punjab Congress MP from Fatehgarh Sahib Amar Singh is in the PAC alongside BJP’s Anurag Thakur. Amritsar MP Gurjeet Aujla has been named on the panel for OBC welfare. The committees have been constituted for a period of one year, until 2025.
Out of four finance committees of the Lok Sabha, three were constituted today, with the Speaker nominating BJP’s Sanjay Jaiswal as chairman of the Committee on Estimates and BJP’s Baijayant Panda as chairman of the Committee on Public Undertakings. The fourth finance committee of the Lok Sabha Committee on Public Enterprises is yet to be constituted. The chairmanship of the Committee on Welfare of OBCs has gone to the BJP’s five-time MP Ganesh Singh. Seven-time BJP MP Faggan Singh Kulaste has been made chairman of the Committee on the Welfare of SCs and STs.
Importantly, the BJP has retained the presidency of all but one key panel announced today, with none going to its allies in the ruling NDA.