The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is the latest to raise complaint against the new choices for parliamentary panel chairpersons. The party which was chairing two such panels until recently has been left with none following its anti-BJP shift.
TRS Parliamentary Party leader K. Keshav Rao, who was heading the Standing Committee on Industry, was removed from the post and was instead made a member of the committee.
Sources said Mr. Rao, on October 8, shot off an angry letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar. “I have served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry for last two terms. I am now nominated to the same committee as Member, which I do not want to serve,” he noted.
He added that the TRS, on the basis of its numerical strength with seven members in the Rajya Sabha and nine in the Lok Sabha, was eligible for chairing a parliamentary panel.
In response to his letter, Mr. Rao was on Wednesday shifted to the Standing Committee on Education.
Another TRS leader pointed out that even when the YSR Congress had only six members in the Rajya Sabha, its floor leader, Vijay Sai Reddy, was chairing the Standing Committee on Commerce.
“Clearly, there is no objective criteria at work here. The BJP is using the committee chairs to award its supporters and punish the ones that it is threatened by,” the leader said.
Following the latest rejig, BJP members head the five most important parliamentary standing committees of Home, Finance, External Affairs, Defence and Information Technology.
Traditionally, these committees have been headed by the Opposition members. The floor leaders of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha have written several letters protesting against the move. The party is yet to forward the name of its nominee for the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Chemical and Fertilizer. It was given in lieu of the Standing Committee on Information and Technology, which was headed by Shashi Tharoor.
Published - October 12, 2022 11:01 pm IST