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Govt, TMC trade shots over chairmanship of Parliament committees
The TMC argued that it has the requisite numbers in Parliament to head a panel, but BJP leaders said that in West Bengal, where the regional party is in power, the Opposition has similarly been denied chairmanship in assembly panels.
New Delhi: A war of words erupted between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday after the former was denied the chairmanship of any parliamentary standing committee in the latest reshuffle announced a day ago.
The TMC argued that it has the requisite numbers in Parliament to head a panel, but BJP leaders said that in West Bengal, where the regional party is in power, the Opposition has similarly been denied chairmanship in assembly panels.
On Tuesday night, officials announced the biggest rejig of parliamentary standing committees in the recent past with least a dozen chairpersons reshuffled, four losing their seats, and six elevated as panel heads. Congress was lost its chairmanship of the committees on home affairs and information technology. The TMC was denied any chairman’s post, and the Samajwadi Party (SP) was no longer in charge of the health committee.
“Third largest party in Parliament, All India Trinamool Congress also second largest opposition party, does not get even one chairmanship. Also, largest opposition party loses two crucial chairmanships of Parliament committees. This is the stark reality of New India,” tweeted TMC Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien.
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The TMC has 36 members in Parliament -- 23 in the Lok Sabha and 13 in the Rajya Sabha. Usually, to get the chairmanship of one of Parliament’s 24 committees, a party needs 32 MPs in a formula based on the share of the party’s strength out of the total number of lawmakers in both Houses. Sometimes, parties lose chairmanships if their numbers fall in either House -- SP was denied chairmanship of the health panel on the grounds that its tally reduced to just three in the Upper House -- but TMC leaders pointed out that there had been no change in its strength between 2019 and now.
A senior TMC leader said that the party sensed such a situation would arise as a number of BJP managers had indicated last month that the TMC might not get any chairperson’s position.
But the BJP hit back. A senior party leader pointed out that the TMC had effectively denied the BJP similar opportunities in the West Bengal assembly.
The state assembly has more than 35 panels but the public accounts committee in particular is a bone of contention. Considered a prestigious committee with the power to review public spendings, it is usually headed by the main opposition party.
After the TMC won the 2021 assembly polls, the panel was allotted to former BJP vice-president Mukul Roy. Roy won the election as a BJP member but switched over to the TMC. Currently, another BJP MLA, Krishna Kalyani, is the PAC chief though he has joined the TMC for all practical purposes.
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The BJP leader quoted above said that when the new assembly was formed in 2021, the BJP demanded chairmanship of 14 panels but were allotted only six. After Roy was made the PAC chairman, BJP members didn’t accept the chairmanship of other panels in protest.
Parliamentary panels are important as they review the functioning of the ministries.
After Tuesday’s reshuffle, the Congress will head the chemical and fertiliser panel, and the committee on commerce. While TMC and SP lost chairmanships, two leaders from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam —Tiruchi Siva and M Kanimozhi—are now heading parliamentary panels. Siva is the chairperson of the industry committee and Kanimozhi, who was earlier heading the chemical and fertiliser committee, is now in charge of the rural development panel. The Congress now heads two panels.
