TMC flags delay as Govt, Opp negotiate number of Standing Committee Chairs

According to sources in the Congress, the party has sought chairs for a total of five Parliamentary Standing Committees – four of Lok Sabha and one of Rajya Sabha.

It is learnt that the government is willing to offer three chairs to the Congress – which has 99 members in Lok Sabha.

One chair each is likely to be given to INDIA partners Samajwadi Party, DMK, and AITC.

A meeting for ironing out the details of the committees was held on August 22.

“The meeting was attended by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, and Union Minister of State for Law & Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal. The Congress was represented by Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, and chief whips of the parties Kodikunnil Suresh and Jairam Ramesh,” said the source.

It is also learnt that the Congress is trying to bargain for one of the key department chairs – finance, defence, and external affairs.

The government has also told the Congress that it has already been given the chair for the Committee on Public Accounts. For the one chair in the Rajya Sabha committees, the Congress has sought the crucial Committee on Home Affairs. The government has offered the Congress committee on science and technology, environment, forests and climate change.

In his letter, O’Brien said that as per the request of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat dated July 9, different parties had to submit their nominations before July 17, before the Monsoon session of Parliament started.

He said his party had submitted its nominations on July 12.

“When we met in the Rajya Sabha, I had verbally brought this up. You had verbally assured me that the committees would be formed within the duration of the Monsoon Session. Unfortunately, even as August slips by, the parliamentary committees have still not been constituted,” O’Brien said in the letter.

There are 16 DPSCs under the Lok Sabha and eight under the Rajya Sabha.

The 17th Lok Sabha, which had 272 sittings during its five-year tenure from 2019-2024, had the lowest number of sittings among the full-term Lok Sabhas, according to data compiled by think tank PRS Legislative Research.