Despite house arrest, Farooq Abdullah nominated to Rajnath Singh-led defence panel

Apart from BJP MP Pragya Thakur, another political leader who has hit the headlines for being nominated to a 21-member parliamentary consultative committee on defence is former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah.

Abdullah's name got highlighted in the list as he has been under house arrest at his residence in Srinagar since the Central government's decision on Article 370 in August.

Not only that, his absence from the Winter Session of the Parliament also led to protest from the opposition party leaders in the House.

On November 18, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said that it is 'unfortunate' that the National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah is not being allowed to attend the current session of the Parliament.

Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also said that Abdullah should be released from the house arrest and allowed to attend the Parliament as it is his constitutional right.

Several mainstream leaders in Jammu and Kashmir including Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti have been put under the house arrest following the abrogation of Article 370 in August that granted special status to the region.

As soon as the list of the 21-member parliamentary consultative committee headed by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was released, Opposition raised objections against the nomination of Pragya Singh Thakur in the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Defence.

She is one of the accused in the Malegaon blasts case and was granted bail by the Bombay High court on health grounds in April 2017 after charges against her under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act were dropped by the National Investigation Agency.

Apart from Thakur and Dr Farooq Abdullah, Chhedi Paswan, Supriya Sule, Sharad Pawar and JP Nadda have also been nominated for the 21-member parliamentary consultative committee.