Tharoor to head standing committee on external affairs, Digvijaya to chair panel on education

New Delhi: Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will head the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs while Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh will head the panel on Education, Congress sources said on Thursday.

Lok Sabha MP Charanjit Singh Channi, a Lok Sabha who was also former Punjab Chief Minister, will head the Standing Committee on Agriculture. Odisha MP Saptagiri Ulaka will head the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

Congress was allocated these four Standing Committees though the party had demanded leadership roles in five panels. Tharoor had headed the Standing Committee on External Affairs earlier between 2014 and 2019.

Earlier this week, the Modi government had wrapped up negotiations with parties on the issue of who will head Parliamentary Standing Committees.

In the previous Lok Sabha, the Congress had chaired two standing committees in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha. Jairam Ramesh headed the Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change while Abhishek Singhvi chaired the Panel on Commerce, both under Rajya Sabha, and Tharoor headed the Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers under the Lok Sabha.

This time, Congress had demanded at least one of the three main panels – Finance, Defence and External Affairs helmed by Lok Sabha. It also has demanded chairmanships of Social Justice and Agriculture panels.

Congress had deputed party Lok Sabha Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi, Chief Whips K Suresh (Lok Sabha) and Jairam Ramesh (Rajya Sabha) for negotiations with the government, which were represented by union ministers Kiren Rijiju, Arjun Ram Meghwal and L Murugan.

Sources said the government had earlier told the Congress that it would not be able to give them leadership of five committees as they wanted to accommodate other opposition parties like DMK, Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party.