Trinamool Congress slams government for not giving party chairmanship of Parliamentary Committees

TMC MP Derek O'Brien pointed out that his party has zero MPs heading such panels despite being the third largest in Parliament and the second largest Opposition party.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O'Brien on November 11 hit out at the government over the choice of chairpersons of Parliamentary committees, pointing out that his party has zero MPs heading such panels despite being the third largest in Parliament and the second largest Opposition party.

"56 new Chairpersons for #Parliament Committees announced. BJP make a mockery of it. Parties (including some soft allies) with fewer MPs become Chairpersons. Third largest party in Parliament, second largest Opposition party TMC get ZERO!," he said in a tweet.

He also posted the full list of chairpersons on his Twitter handle. In a reconstitution of Parliamentary panels, notified by Secretariats of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, chairpersons of several committees were changed last month.

With the Congress losing the chairmanship of Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs in the last rejig, all key Parliamentary panels — External Affairs, Defence, and Finance — lie with the ruling BJP.

Besides Home Affairs, the Congress was also not given the chairmanship of Information and Technology in the reconstitution of Parliamentary panels, which happens annually. Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi has been replaced by BJP MP and former DGP of Uttar Pradesh Brijlal as the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing committee on Home Affairs.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has been replaced by Prataprao Jadhav, a Shiv Sena MP from the Eknath Shinde faction, as the head of the Parliamentary Panel on Information Technology. Shashi Tharoor's committee was in news throughout the year for taking up several subjects which were critical of the government.

The Trinamool Congress, which had the chair of the Parliamentary Panel on Food and Consumer Affairs, has not been given the chairmanship of any Parliamentary committee after the reshuffle. The panel on food will be chaired by BJP MP from West Bengal Locket Chatterjee.

Similarly Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Samajwadi Party (SP) also lost the chairmanship of panel on Industry and Health respectively.

TRS leader Keshav Rao has been replaced by DMK leader Tiruchi Siva as chairperson of panel on Industry, while BJP MP Vivek Thakur will head the panel on Health replacing SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav.

BJP's erstwhile ally JD(U) has also been given a committee in the latest restructuring. Its Rajiv Ranjan Singh will now chair the panel on Urban Development.