The Congress has announced the chairpersons for the four Parliamentary Standing Committees allotted to the party following prolonged negotiations with the government.
Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor will head the Standing Committee on External Affairs, while former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi will chair the panel on Agriculture. Additionally, Koraput MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka will lead the Rural Development committee, and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP, will chair the committee on Education.
The allocations came after several discussions between the government and the opposition parties, which concluded recently. Congress had initially pushed for leadership positions on five Standing Committees, seeking four in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha. In the final arrangement, the Congress secured leadership of three Lok Sabha committees, while the Education panel was assigned to the Rajya Sabha. Meanwhile, Congress allies in the INDIA bloc — the Samajwadi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and Trinamool Congress (TMC) — are expected to receive one chair each.
Sources familiar with the negotiations revealed that the Congress had lobbied for the chair of the crucial Standing Committee on Home Affairs in the Rajya Sabha but ultimately received the Education panel. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal represented the government in the meetings. The Congress team included Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, Chief Whip Kodikunnil Suresh, and party veteran Jairam Ramesh.
On August 16, five key standing committees were constituted, including the Committee on Public Accounts, chaired by Congress MP K C Venugopal, in line with the convention of granting this post to the Opposition. Other major committees, such as the Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes, the Committee of Estimates, and the Committee on Public Undertakings, will be led by BJP MPs.
These appointments signal a formal conclusion to the months-long negotiations between the government and the Opposition over committee leadership, setting the stage for upcoming parliamentary sessions.
