Congress's KC Venugopal Likely To Get Major Role In Public Accounts Committee. Details

KC Venugopal is likely to chair the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), a panel that scrutinizes government spending.

Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha MP KC Venugopal may soon have to shoulder another responsibility as he is likely to head the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament. A total of 22 MPs – 15 from Lok Sabha and seven from Rajya Sabha –  have been elected unopposed to PAC. Of the 15 Lok Sabha MPs, seven are from BJP, three from Congress and one each from Trinamool Congress, DMK, Samajwadi Party, Jana Sena and TDP.

The position of the chairman of the multi-party panel is traditionally given to the main Opposition party. As per Congress sources, Venugopal will be named the chairperson of the panel this time.

Venugopal, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan in 2020, won the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Alappuzha. Apart from being the general secretary (organisation) for Congress, he has also served as minister of state in the first UPA government. Currently, he is also serving as deputy whip for the Congress in the Lower House.

About PAC

The PAC is one of the three financial standing committees of the Parliament of India. Its main task is to ensure that the government spends the funds granted by Parliament within the approved scope of demand. 

The committee, which includes 15 elected by the Lok Sabha and seven by the Rajya Sabha, examines the audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) after it is laid in Parliament, with the C&AG assisting during investigations.

From the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Committee has Lok Sabha MPs Ravishankar Prasad, Jagambika Pal, Anurag Thakur, Tejashwi Surya, Nishikant Dubey, CM Ramesh and Aparajita Sarangi, while Dr Amar Singh and Jai Parkash are Congress members besides Venugopal. Apart from that, Trinamool Congress has its senior MP Sougata Roy, DMK has TR Baalu and SP Dharmendra Yadav as PAC members.

From the Rajya Sabha, the BJP has Ashok Chavan, K Lakshman and Sudhanshu Trivedi, along with Congress's Shaktisinh Gohil are part of the committee. NCP has nominated Praful Patel as its member.

Members Of Other Committees Also Announced

Members were also announced for Parliament's Committee on Public Undertakings as well as the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The department-related Standing Committees have not yet been formed.