NEW DELHI: The Trinamool Congress slammed the Modi government for not getting chairmanship in any of the recently reconstituted Parliamentary committees. TMC MP Derek O’Brien on Friday lashed out at the government over the choice of chairpersons of Parliamentary committees. He said that the choices of chairmanship are ‘unfair’ and ‘undermine’ the Parliamentary norms.
Taking to twitter, Derek O’Brien alleged: “56 new Chairpersons for #Parliament Committees announced. BJP make a mockery of it. Parties (including some soft allies) with fewer MPs become Chairpersons. Third largest party in Parliament, second largest Opposition party TMC get ZERO!”
He criticised the government for keeping the TMC unfairly out from the chairmanship of a Parliamentary committee even when the party has a strength of 35 MPs in the Parliament. He mocked at the government through a video presentation in which the Aam Aadmi Party is also shown having given no chairmanship in any Parliamentary committee, despite having the strength of 10 MPs in the Lok Sabha.
“Parties with fewer MPS have been given chairmanship while a party like TMC, which is the third largest party in Parliament, has been kept out from the chairmanship. It is an irony of ironies and a mockery committed by the BJP with democratic and parliamentary norms,” he remarked.
As part of reconstitution of parliamentary committees and panels, notified by secretariats of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, chairpersons of several committees have recently been appointed in which Indian National Congress with 84 MPs in the Lok Sabha has been given chairmanship in 5 Parliamentary committees. In the Lok Sabha, the TMC has 36 MPs but it has been given zero chairmanship, whereas DMK with its 34 MPs has got chairmanship in 3 Parliamentary committees. According to a data, the YSR CP has only 31 MPs, but it has got chairmanship in two committees while former ally of BJP in Bihar — JDU with 21 MPs in the LS has got chairmanship in 1 Parliamentary committee.
Telangana’s TRS, which has a strength of 16 MPs, has been given one chairmanship in one of the committees. The BJD with a strength of 21 MPs in the LS, has been given chairmanship in 2 committees while the Shivsena (Uddhav faction) with 22 MPs in LS, has got chairmanship in one committee. According to a data, shared by TMC MP to this newspaper on Friday, there are 24 department related Parliamentary standing Committees, 17 LS’s other committees, 12 RS Standing (House) Committees and 3 Financial Committees. “But the TMC which is the third largest party in the LS has zero chairpersons in 56 Parliamentary Committees. It is a nothing but a totally unfair move,” the TMC MP said. Derek O’Brien through a write-up has said: “Parliament is being undermined even when it is not in session”.
The MP said that the number of sittings per year for Lok Sabha has also been reduced from an average of 121 days (1952-1970) to 68 days since 2000. “The Parliamentary Committees meet year round to discuss and deliberate on important issues and suggest improvements for the working of ministries and scrutinise legislation. But the rules and precedents are being junked in parliamentary committees just as much as on the floor of Parliament,” he alleged.
Chairmanship in Parliamentary Committees
There are 24 department related Parliamentary standing Committees, 17 LS’s other committees, 12 RS Standing (House) Committees and 3 Financial Committees.
