LS Speaker Om Birla constitutes Parliamentary Friendship Groups with over 60 countries

Prominent opposition leaders such as Shashi Tharoor, P Chidambaram, Gaurav Gogoi Congress, K Kanimozhi DMK, Derek OBrien, Abhishek Banerjee Trinamool Congress, Arvind Sawant SS-UBT, Supriya Sule NCP-SP, Asaduddin Owaisi AIMIM, Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav Samajwadi Party will chair the parliamentary groups, each having 11 members.

Amid strained ties with opposition parties, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday constituted Parliamentary Friendship Groups with more than 60 countries, comprising various opposition members, including those suspended from the Lower House recently for unruly behaviour. The Lok Sabha speaker's decision comes amid the opposition's plan to remove him from office, alleging partisan conduct in the House. Prominent opposition leaders such as Shashi Tharoor, P Chidambaram, Gaurav Gogoi (Congress), K Kanimozhi (DMK), Derek O'Brien, Abhishek Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Arvind Sawant (SS-UBT), Supriya Sule (NCP-SP), Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party) will chair the parliamentary groups, each having 11 members. Senior BJP leaders such as Ravi Shankar Prasad, Baijayant Panda, Nishikant Dubey, and Anurag Thakur have also been appointed as chairpersons of the parliamentary groups. Shiv Sena leader Shrikant Shinde and JD(U) member Sanjay Jha too have been roped in as chairpersons. Among the suspended Congress Lok Sabha members, Manickam Tagore has been made a member of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Indonesia. Gurjeet Singh Aujla (Italy), Hibi Eden (Singapore), Amarinder Singh Raja Warring (the UK), Prashant Padole (Trinidad and Tobago), Dean Kuriakose (Saudi Arabia) and C Kiran Kumar Reddy (South Korea) are also among those made members. CPI(M) member S Venkatesan has been made a member of the parliamentary group with Cuba. Speaker Birla is likely to constitute more such groups, which are co-terminus with the tenure of the Lok Sabha. ''India's parliamentary diplomacy enters a new era,'' the speaker said in a statement here. He said a significant step has been taken to widen India's inter-parliamentary engagement with the world. ''By prioritising Parliament-to-Parliament and people-to-people connections, this initiative signals a more participatory approach to foreign engagement,'' Birla said. ''The move reflects a conscious effort by the Indian Parliament to deepen dialogue and exchanges with legislatures across continents and to complement traditional diplomacy with sustained parliamentary interaction,'' he said. Stepping up global outreach in the aftermath of the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam last April and the subsequent Operation Sindoor that targeted terror infrastructure deep inside Pakistan, India had dispatched seven parliamentary delegations to 33 world capitals to articulate its policy of zero tolerance for terror. The seven delegations articulated India's stand on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, rising above ideological differences. Among the BJP leaders, Ravi Shankar Prasad will lead the Parliamentary Friendship Group with the United Kingdom, Baijayant Panda with the US, Nishikant Dubey with Russia, Anurag Thakur with the EU Parliament, Rajiv Pratap Rudy with Switzerland, Sudhanshu Trivedi with Saudi Arabia and D Purandeshwari with Sri Lanka. Among Congress leaders, P Chidambaram will lead the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Italy, Manish Tewari with Australia, Shashi Tharoor with France, Kodikunnil Suresh with Qatar, Rajiv Shukla with Austria, Gaurav Gogoi with the Philippines, Mukul Wasnik with Ireland, Kumari Selja with Mongolia, Pramod Tiwari with Mexico, and K C Venugopal with Portugal. Among the Samajwadi Party leaders, Akhilesh Yadav will lead the Friendship Group with Japan, Dharmendra Yadav with Armenia and Ram Gopal Yadav with Egypt. Among the Trinamool Congress leaders, Derek O'Brien will lead the group with Chile, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar with Bulgaria, and Abhishek Banerjee with Algeria. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been made a member of the Friendship Group for Japan. Similarly, Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra is part of the group for South Korea. DMK leaders T R Baalu, Kanimozhi and Tiruchi Siva will lead the friendship groups for Malaysia, Greece and Bahrain, respectively. AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi will lead the Friendship Group for Oman, BJD's Sasmit Patra for Georgia and YSRCP's P V Midhun Reddy for the Baltics. RJD leader Premchand Gupta will helm the group for Kenya. Shiv Sena-UBT leader Arvind Sawant will lead the group to Morocco, while NCP-SP leader Supriya Sule will help the team for Singapore. AAP leader Sanjay Singh will head the group for Suriname and RSP's N K Premachandran for Madagascar. Among the NDA allies, Shrikant Shinde of the Shiv Sena will lead the group for Indonesia, Sanjay Jha of the JD(U) for Germany, NCP's Praful Patel for Brazil, M Sreenivasulu Reddy for Cuba, AIADMK's M Thambidurai for Nigeria and TDP's Lavu Shri Krishna Devarayalu for the Maldives. BJP leader Bhartruhari Mahtab will lead the group for Israel, Hema Malini for South Africa, Ashok Chavan for Argentina, Samik Bhattacharya for New Zealand, and Aparajita Sarangi for Tanzania. The idea is to allow the lawmakers to speak directly to their counterparts abroad, share legislative experience, and build trust through regular engagements, a Lok Sabha Secretariat statement said. Beyond parliamentary procedure, the groups are expected to facilitate conversations on trade, technology, social policy, culture, and global challenges that democracies face today, it said. Under Birla's leadership, Parliament has taken a more active role in international fora, projecting India not only as a political power but as a confident and mature democracy willing to engage, listen and collaborate, the statement said.

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