TMC loses chairpersonship of two key Parliamentary panels

The Trinamool Congress has lost the chairpersonship of two key parliamentary panels as Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday reconstituted various department-related parliamentary standing committees.

While BJP’s Sudhanshu Trivedi has been appointed the new chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Commerce, replacing TMC’s Dola Sen, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, leader of TMC’s rebel faction, has replaced her former party colleague Kirti Azad as the chairperson of the Parliamentary panel on Chemicals and Fertilisers.

This has happened after a split in the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, with 20 of its rebel Lok Sabha MPs, led by Dastidar, quitting the party and joining the Nationalist Citizen Party while also supporting the NDA. The department-related parliamentary standing committees serve a one-year term, after which they are reconstituted.

DMK MPs Tiruchi Siva and K Kanimozhi have been reappointed chairpersons of the Parliamentary committee on industry, and the panel on food, consumer affairs and public distribution, respectively. The leaders of some key BJP allies — JD(U), Shiv Sena and the TDP — have also been retained as heads of different Parliamentary committees. Some opposition leaders, including Shashi Tharoor and Charanjit Singh Channi of the Congress, have also been retained as chairpersons of committees on external affairs and agriculture, respectively.

Congress’ Mukul Wasnik has been retained as the head of the Parliamentary panel on education, women, children and youth, while Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav has been retained as the chairperson of the panel on health and family welfare.