Parliamentary standing committees: Rahul Gandhi in defence, Kangana makes debut, Shashi Tharoor heads external affairs

The BJP retained chairmanship of key parliamentary panels including home affairs, finance and defence after the NDA government reconstituted 24 committees comprising members from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

In keeping with the tradition of giving opposition parties adequate representation in parliamentary committees, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been made a member of the defence affairs committee. Congress MPs including Shashi Tharoor have been made chairpersons of five parliamentary standing committees - external affairs, petroleum, rural development, education, and agriculture.

The Trinamool Congress will chair the panels on commerce and chemicals & fertilizers, according to a notification issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat late Thursday.

Additionally, the reconstituted panels have representation from the National Democratic Alliance's allies, with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) getting to chair the parliamentary standing committee on housing and urban affairs. Janata Dal (United) member Sanjay Kumar Jha will head the panel on transport, tourism and culture.

BJP in control

The committees form the backbone of India's lawmaking process and provide crucial inputs to the governance machinery. Mint reported in June that the BJP, after forming a new government, would secure the majority of chairmanships across these critical committees.

The restructuring gives the ruling party significant control over the legislative process, potentially influencing key policy recommendations and oversight.

"The BJP’s control of critical committees ensures that the government’s policies face less friction during parliamentary scrutiny,” political expert Arvind Mohan said.

The appointment of Rahul Gandhi as a member of the defence affairs committee is noteworthy, given his outspoken stance on defence issues, including the Rafale deal, which he aggressively criticized in previous parliamentary debates.

The defence committee will be chaired by BJP MP Radha Mohan Singh, which may limit the opposition’s ability to sway the panel's major decisions. Other members include Karti P Chidambaram and Ravindra Shukla alias Ravi Kishan.

Influential panels

Apart from home, finance and defence, BJP members have been appointed chairpersons of some of the most influential committees such as communications and information technology, coal, mines and steel, railways, water resources, personnel, public grievances, law, and justice, social justice and empowerment, science and technology, environment, forests, and climate change, and labour, textiles, and skill development.

This dominance allows the BJP to shape key legislative discussions and policy recommendations across a wide range of sectors.

BJP members will lead 11 key parliamentary panels, while key allies TDP, JDU and Shiv Sena (Shinde) will helm three committees. However, none of the members from Chirag Paswan's LJP (Paswan) has been made the chair of a committee. This means the BJP and its allies will control 14 of the 24 parliamentary committees.

The TDP’s Sreenivasulu Reddy will head the committee on housing and urban affairs, while the JDU’s Sanjay Kumar Jha will chair the panel on transport, tourism and culture, and the Shiv Sena (Shinde)’s Chandu Barne will lead the committee on energy.

Congress members will chair five committees. Tharoor will head the panel on external affairs, while Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka will lead the committee on rural development and panchayati raj.

The panel on agriculture, animal husbandry and food processing will be led by former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi. The committee on education, women, children, youth and sports will be led by Digvijaya Singh and the panel on petroleum and natural gas will be led by Sunil Dattatrey.

The TMC’s Dola Sen and Kirti Jha Azad will lead the committees on commerce and chemicals & fertilizers, respectively. The panels on consumer affairs, food and public distribution and industry will be led by the DMK’s Kanimozhi and Tiruchi Siva, respectively. The committee on health will be chaired by the Samajwadi Party’s Ramgopal Yadav.

Parliamentary standing committees are tasked with overseeing specific departments and ministries of the union government. They play a key role in scrutinising budgetary allocations, reviewing bills introduced in Parliament, and advising the government on policy matters.

Many of them are overseen by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, though some operate under the Rajya Sabha. Their recommendations help shape the introduction of new bills and the formulation of key national policies.

Each committee has 31 members — 21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.

All about the new Parliamentary Standing Committees:

1. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is a member of the standing committee on Defence.

2. Congress leaders heading panels include:

> Shashi Tharoor - external affairs

> Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh - education, women, children, youth and sports

> Former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi - agriculture, animal husbandry and food processing

> Odisha MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka - rural and panchayati raj

3. BJP's Radha Mohan Singh will head the committee on defence.

4. BJP leader Bhartruhari Mahtab will head the committee on finance.

5. Former Union Minister and BJP leader Anurag Thakur has been given chairmanship of the committee on coal, mines and steel.

6. BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy will lead the water resources committee.

7. BJP member Nishikant Dubey will lead the committee on communications and information technology.

8. BJP MP from Mandi Kangana Ranaut made her debut as a member of the committee on communications and IT. Other members of this committee include SP leader Jaya Bachchan, SS-UBT's Priyanka Chaturvedi, BJD's Sushmit Patra and Congress's KTS Tulsi from the Upper House, as well as BJP MPs Anil Baluni and Poonam Madam, and TMC's Mahua Moitra from the Lok Sabha.

9. Dr Radha Mohan Das Agrawal of the BJP will head the committee on home affairs.

10. The committee on commerce will be headed by TMC's Dola Sen.

11. Health and family welfare will be headed by Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party.

12. Tiruchi Siva of the DMK will head the panel on industry.

13. BJP's CM Ramesh will head the panel on railways, the Indian Express reported.

14. TMC's Azad Kirti Jha will chair the committee on chemicals & fertilizers.

15. DMK's Kanimozhi Karunanidhi will head the committee on consumer affairs, food and public distribution.

16. Key BJP allies, including the TDP and Janata Dal (United), Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP, will head one committee each. These include:

> Shiv Sena's Shrirang Appa Chandu Barne - energy

> TDP's Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy - housing and urban affairs

> NCP's Sunil Tatkare - petroleum and natural gas

> JD(U)'s Sanjay Jha - transport, tourism and culture