Cong to get chairship of external affairs, agri, rural dev, edu committees

The Congress will chair the parliamentary standing committees on external affairs, agriculture, and rural development in the Lok Sabha and education in the Rajya Sabha, party sources said on Monday, with talks between the government and the opposition over the panels' chairship concluding.

In all, the Congress is set to have the chairship of four department-related standing committees -- three in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha.

The Congress will chair the Department Related Standing Committee on External Affairs; Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing; Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in the Lok Sabha; and Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports in the Rajya Sabha, a source told PTI.

Significantly, the Congress will chair the crucial committee on external affairs after a gap of five years. Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor headed the panel on external affairs between September 2014 and May 2019.

The Congress last held the chairship of two department-related standing committees in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha. While Jairam Ramesh headed the committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Abhishek Singhvi chaired the panel on Commerce. Tharoor headed the Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers in the Lok Sabha.

Talks have been going on for quite some time over chairship of the department-related standing committees, with the government and opposition bargaining hard over control of key committees such as external affairs, defence, finance and home.

Department-related standing committees deal with various Union ministries and scrutinise their budgetary allocations and bills introduced in Parliament. They also recommend the government to bring bills and make policies on important issues.

The Congress already has KC Venugopal as chairperson of the key Public Accounts Committee.

While a majority of the standing committees come under the Lok Sabha Secretariat, some are serviced by the Rajya Sabha.