The Opposition's INDIA bloc is expecting to get more key roles in department-related standing committees after the last term of the House after winning 236 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats have written to parties asking for the nomination of respective party MPs in the 24 panels, two Opposition leaders told Hindustan Times.
Trinamool’s Lok Sabha lawmaker Sudip Bandopadhyay told the newspaper that the Lok Sabha secretariat has written to him asking for the nomination of MPs in different panels. A senior official from Congress president and Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge also confirmed that a similar request has been received by them from the Rajya Sabha secretariat.
ALSO READ: Bilateral Talks, Meet And Greet With Indian Diaspora: PM Modi Wraps Up Austria Visit, Lands In Delhi
The Congress wants the Samajwadi Party, which does not lead any panel, should be given a seat this time, a strategist from the party told HT, adding that TMC should also get one chairperson.
As per the report, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is likely to head the Public Accounts Committee, the audit watchdog of Parliament.
The committees are expected to be announced during the upcoming monsoon session, the report added.
The Lok Sabha has 16 department-related standing committees and Rajya Sabha has eight under it. The final decision on the chairs would be made by the Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Before the Lok Sabha elections in May, the Congress party led three standing committees — environment, chemical and fertilizer, and commerce (till Abhishek Manu Singhvi lost his Rajya Sabha seat in April). TMC, being the third largest party in the Parliament, was not given a any chairman's post and Ramgopal Yadav from Samajwadi Party, who had initially chaired the health panel was replaced by BJP.
Dravida Munnetra Kazagham leader K Kanimozhi chaired the rural development panel.