NEW DELHI: Though the government has constituted certain parliamentary standing committees after hectic parleys with the opposition parties, there has been no official notification on the chairship of the panels yet.According to sources, though most of the opposition parties have forwarded the names of the leaders to head the committees it has been assigned to lead, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) drags its feet on the names, causing further delay of the notification of the panels. An opposition leader, on the condition of anonymity, said that TMC is delaying the process as its Lok Sabha leader Sudhir Bandyopadhyay is away in the US.“All the other parties have forwarded the names of the leaders to head the committees. Though TMC has been offered the chairmanship of the panel on chemicals and fertilisers, they are yet to give the name as their LS leader will be back from the US only on 25th,” the leader said.Incidentally, TMC leader Derek O’Brien on Sunday alleged parliamentary standing committees had not been formed despite the new Lok Sabha completing 100 days since its constitution and said Parliament was being turned into a “deep, dark chamber.”In a post on X, he said seven out of 10 Bills were sent to department-related standing committees of Parliament in the 15th Lok Sabha, while only two out of 10 Bills were sent to the panels in the last Lok Sabha.According to sources, the TMC may get the chairmanship of the standing committee on chemicals and fertilisers in the Lok Sabha and Commerce and Industries in the Rajya Sabha. The TMC has 29 seats in Lok Sabha and 12 in the Upper House. In the previous Lok Sabha, both panels were headed by the Congress.It was after hectic deliberations that consensus was reached between the opposition and the government over the chairship of key committees such as external affairs, defences, finance and home. The opposition has been critical of the government for not setting up parliamentary standing committees despite the 18th Lok Sabha completing 100 days.While Congress got the chairship of four panels, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has two and Samajwadi Party (SP) one.The Congress will chair the Department Related Standing Committee on External Affairs; Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing; Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in the Lok Sabha; and Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports in the Rajya Sabha.Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor will head the panel on external affairs and Digvijaya Singh will head the panel on education. Former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi will lead the committee on agriculture.
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