Even as it disagrees with the Congress over the appointment of the Leader of the Opposition, the NDA government is giving itself a pat on its back for managing the appointments of members to the various parliamentary committees “unanimously.” Three days of hectic negotiations led by Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu, who was assisted by Minister of State for Textiles Santosh Gangwar and Information & Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, have paid off as all the parties agreed to choose members through consensus rather than insist on an election. The last time such an initiative was pulled off was in 1984, said sources in the government.
Appointments have been made to 18 parliamentary committees and government bodies, which include the crucial committees – Public Accounts Committee, Public Estimates Committee, Public Undertaking Committee – and to the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and the Official Languages.
