Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury seeks review of 'downgrade' in chairmanship of parliamentary panels

With Congress getting chairmanship of one parliamentary committee in place of two it held in the previous Lok Sabha, party leader in the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has written to Parliamentary Affairs Ministry for a review of the decision which he termed as a "downgrade".

Chowdhury said that the party chaired committees on External Affairs and Finance in the previous Lok Sabha and has now been given Information and Technology.

"They gave us only one. This is an injustice. With 44 MPs we chaired two standing committees. This time we have more MPs but only one chairmanship has been given," Chowdhury told ANI.

Party leader Shashi Tharoor heads the parliamentary panel on Information Technology. In the committees which are serviced by the Rajya Sabha secretariat, Anand Sharma will head the panel on Home Affairs and Jairam Ramesh on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was a member of the standing committee on External Affairs in the previous Lok Sabha, is now a member of the standing committee on Defence.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has recently been elected as a member of Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan, has for the present not opted to be a member of any committee.

As in the past, Congress President Sonia Gandhi is not a member of any committee.

Chowdhury said Congress had shown interest in panels on Finance and External Affairs and there were a lot of issues pertaining to them.

He said standing committees were like mini-parliament and accused the government of being "dictatorial" and misusing its majority.

"This is a downgrade. I have written that they should review. It is important for check and balance mechanism. I do not know what is the problem in giving two committees. They do not want that the opposition should raise issues against the government," he said.

BJP leader P P Chaudhary will head the standing committee on External Affairs and party MP Jayant Sinha on Finance. Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav will head the committee on Health and Family Welfare.