The Trinamool Congress has lost the chairpersonship of two key parliamentary panels after Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla reconstituted various department-related parliamentary standing committees on Saturday.
Among the changes, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi has been appointed chairperson of the parliamentary committee on commerce, replacing TMC’s Dola Sen. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who leads the TMC’s rebel faction, has replaced her former party colleague Kirti Azad as chairperson of the panel on chemicals and fertilisers.
Several chairpersons have been retained. DMK MPs Tiruchi Siva and K Kanimozhi will continue to head the committees on industry, and food, consumer affairs and public distribution, respectively.
Leaders of key BJP allies JD-U, Shiv Sena and the TDP have also been retained as heads of different parliamentary committees.
Among Opposition leaders, Congress MPs Shashi Tharoor and Charanjit Singh Channi have been retained as chairpersons of the committees on external affairs and agriculture, respectively.
Congress leader Mukul Wasnik will continue as head of the parliamentary panel on education, women, children and youth, while Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Verma has been retained as chairperson of the panel on health and family welfare. BJP’s Radha Mohan Singh will head the panel on defence.
JD-U’s Sanjay Kumar Jha has been reappointed chairperson of the parliamentary panel on transport, tourism and culture, while Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Barne has been retained as head of the panel on energy.
Among other appointments, BJP’s Sujeet Kumar has replaced party colleague Brij Lal as chairperson of the parliamentary panel on personnel, public grievances, law and justice. Former Union minister Anurag Thakur has been reappointed head of the panel on coal, mines and steel, while BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy has been retained as chairperson of the panel on water resources.
BJP’s Bhartruhari Mahtab will continue to head the panel on finance, and Radha Mohan Das Agarwal has been retained as head of the panel on home affairs.
BJP’s Nishikant Dubey has also been reappointed head of the panel on communications and information technology, while party MP from Maharashtra Medha Vishram Kulkarni has been retained as chairperson of the committee on science and technology, environment, forests and climate change.
BJP’s Sudheer Gupta has replaced C M Ramesh as chairperson of the panel on railways, while Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka has been reappointed head of the panel on rural development and Panchayati Raj.