New Parliament Standing Committees Announced

The Parliament has constituted its standing committees with Bhartruhari Mahtab of BJP as chair of the Finance panel and Shashi Tharoor of Congress leading the External Affairs committee. These committees, which involve members from various parties, monitor the operations of different ministries.

In a major development on Thursday, the Parliament's standing committees were reconstituted. Bhartruhari Mahtab from the BJP will chair the influential Finance panel, while the Congress's Shashi Tharoor will lead the External Affairs committee.

The department-related standing committees, representing multiple party lines, function as mini parliaments to scrutinize various ministries. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat announced the new committee setups through an official communique.

Among the key appointments: former Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh will head the Defence committee, and BJP's Radha Mohan Das Agrawal will chair the Home Affairs panel. Notably, key opposition figures such as Rahul Gandhi have also been assigned significant roles.

(With inputs from agencies.)