LoP Rahul Gandhi gets parliamentary defence committee, Kangana Ranaut gets IT

The standing committees of the Parliament have been recently reorganised, and important positions are given to political leaders of all factions. Notably, Rahul Gandhi of Congress MP has been continued in the Defence Affairs Committee, while Kangana Ranaut, the first-time BJP parliamentarian, has been included in the Communications and Information Technology Committee, thus entering into parliamentary affairs.

The Defence Committee, which is to be headed by BJP MP Radha Mohan Singh, still performs the important function of handling matters related to national security. Rahul Gandhi, who is also the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, was a member of this committee in the last Lok Sabha session. It is believed that his experience will enable him to make meaningful contributions to the formulation of the committee’s policies on defence.

However, what may be observed here is that Kangana Ranaut’s appointment is quite significant as it is her first time to be assigned legislative duties. The Communications and IT Committee will be headed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, and other members of the panel are Jaya Bachchan of the Samajwadi Party and Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena. This diversity is due to the fact that the committee has members drawn from different political systems.

The Congress party has been assigned the charge of four important committees, out of which the External Affairs Committee will be headed by former Foreign Minister Shashi Tharoor. Other committees with Congress members as chairmen are Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports by Digvijaya Singh; Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Food Processing by Charanjit Singh Channi; and Rural and Panchayati Raj by Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka. Missing from this committee reshuffle is Sonia Gandhi, former Congress president and seven-time MP.

The BJP still controls most of these appointments, as it leads 11 out of the 24 committees established. Other important positions are; Radha Mohan Das Agrawal is the convenor of the Home Affairs Committee, and Bhartruhari Mahtab is the convenor of the Finance Committee.