Key parliamentary panels, which will include the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), headed by Congress' K C Venugopal, have been constituted. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP's) Sanjay Jaiswal will be heading the Committee on Estimates, while his party colleague Baijayant Panda will chair the Committee on Public Undertakings.
Key financial committees of Parliament include the Public Accounts Committee, Committee on Public Undertakings (CoPU), and Committee on Estimates. These committees are tasked with keeping a watch on the government's accounts and the functioning of public undertakings.
On Friday, the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a bulletin and announced the constitution of parliamentary committees. The three committees have a tenure of one year and have members from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. They are elected by the two houses. Besides, there are other department-related standing committees that keep an eye on various Union ministries and departments.
The bulletin stated that the Committees on the Welfare of Other Backward Classes as well as for the Welfare of SCs and STs have also been constituted. While the Committee on Welfare of OBCs is headed by Ganesh Singh of the saffron party, his colleague Faggan Singh Kulaste heads the Committee on Welfare of SCs and STs.
In the PAC, a total of 22 MPs – 15 from Lok Sabha and seven from Rajya Sabha – have been elected unopposed. 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.
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.