Congress' Tharoor slam PM govt over chairmanship of Parliamentary Standing Committees

New Delhi: Amid the setting up of Parliamentary Standing Committees not moving forward, senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi government over not intending to give chairmanship of prominent committees to the main Opposition party Congress saying it only shows its "insecurity" and "defeat the very logic" of having such panels at all.

Tharoor's remarks came amid reports that the government is unwilling to give Congress leadership of Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committees like that of Defence, Finance and External Affairs and the government's disagreement with the Opposition are delaying the formation of these panels.

He said it is "disappointing" that the government "appears to have no idea" of the purpose of Parliamentary committees, which are to provide an additional layer of scrutiny and accountability for the government without the political grandstanding often associated with publicly televised sessions of Parliament itself.

"To attempt to deny opposition parties any say in matters of national importance and sensitivity, is to defeat the very logic of having such committees at all," he posted on 'X'.

He referred to 2014 and said the Modi government had then given Congress the chairmanship of both External Affairs and Finance even though the party had only 44 MPs. Tharoor then headed the External Affairs committee while M Veerappa Moily headed the Finance panel.

"Today, we have 101 MPs, and they are reluctant to give us any important committee? This suggests a deplorably changed mentality on their part and only reflects their growing insecurity, rather than any accumulation of wisdom or confidence after 10 years in government," he said.

"Incidentally, in the entire history of Parliamentary committees, External Affairs was always headed by an opposition MP until, for the first time in 2019, a BJP MP was asked to take it over. What signal does this send to the outside world, where we have always presented a united face on foreign policy?" he said.

Deccan Herald had on August 29 reported about the government reaching out to the Congress on panel formation. Congress has demanded the chairmanship of 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, but the government is learnt to have offered Labour, Housing and Urban Affairs and Rural Development only.