NEW DELHI: Now that the general budget has been cleared, the NDA government is focusing on constituting the parliamentary standing committees. Though it hopes to do so without a tug-of-war among the claimants, it wants to isolate the Congress party among the opposition in the Parliament.
‘‘We will be able to finalise the committees by Monday or Tuesday and most probably, they will be announced on Wednesday,’’ MoS for Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Javadekar said.
Sources said the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu, will hold informal consultations with allies–Shiv Sena, TDP and SAD on Sunday and informal talks were on with AIADMK, Trinamool Congress and BJD.
Naidu had asked all parties to nominate their representatives to various standing committees by June 16 so that these panels could be constituted at the earliest. Sources say now Javadekar is looking after the constitution of eight committees to be headed by Rajya Sabha members, while Naidu is working on constitution of 16 committees to be headed by Lok Sabha members.
Usually, members from political parties are accommodated in the committees according to their strength. Sources said the government wanted to implement ‘consensus mantra’ in constitution of these committees, including the finance committees without any elections. In the name of consensus, the government is also trying to isolate the Congress party by allowing the small and regional parties to stake claims for more number of committee chairmen posts.
For the purpose, Naidu formed a group with Ministers of State Santosh Gangwar, Prakash Javadekar and party MPs Arjun Meghwal, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Ganesh Singh to consult with the parties.
Following this, for the first time in recent past, the government could get 18 parliamentary committees, including finance committees—Public Accounts Committee, Estimates Committee and Committee on Public Undertakings and government bodies elected unanimously. In the process, first-time MP Kothapalli Geetha belonging to mere nine-member party of YSR Congress got elected to the government body—Coffee Board. However, it is yet to nominate the chairmen posts of these committees among from the elected members.
Sources said the government is under pressure this time since many regional parties have emerged stronger and are lobbying for posts of chairmen. AIADMK and TMC, the third and the fourth largest parties in the 16th Lok Sabha, have been asking for their due share in committees.
The TMC is adamant on getting chairmen posts for two committees—railways and transport. It has 34 members in Lok Sabha and two in Rajya Sabha.
Similarly, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which has 10 members in Lok Sabha and one member in Rajya Sabha, also wants a chairman post. Not just the opposition, the government is also under pressure from its allies such as TDP and Shiv Sena for these posts. Sources said the government has agreed to give one chairman post to TDP, but it wants two.
As a practice, Congress will get the chairman post of Public Accounts Committee since it is always given to the opposition and former Union Minister K V Thomas, who got elected to the committee already, will be nominated as chairman. However, the Congress party wants more and its wish list includes committees on HRD, Health and Family Welfare, Commerce, Industry, Finance and Defence.
Sources said of 16 department-related standing committees, BJP will get eight, keep three for its allies and Congress will get two and AIADMK, TDP, Shiv Sena, BJD, TMC will get one each. Sources said of the eight standing committees, BJP will get two, Congress three and TMC, BSP and JD(U) one each.