Naresh Gujral to head Parliamentary Standing Committee of Commerce

KV Prasad

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 27

Senior Akali Dal MP Naresh Gujral will head the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Commerce.

The appointment of Gujral indicates the BJP’s move to accommodate some of its allies as heads of parliamentary panels, including Derek O’Brien (Trinamool Congress) and RCP Singh (JD-U) who replace Mukul Roy and Sharad Yadav, respectively.

Gujral, son of former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral, also finds place as a member of another important finance panel. Former Union minister Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and KD Singh are among members in the Commerce panel.

Among the significant changes effected in the latest reconstitution of the panels was bringing in Bhupinder Yadav (BJP) as the chairman of the Standing Committee of Personnel, Law and Justice in place of former Union Minister Anand Sharma, who will now head the Science and Technology Standing Committee instead of party colleague Renuka Chowdhury.

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The Personnel panel is in the process of examining the issue of electoral reforms in the context of first-past-the-post and proportional representation.

Former Home Minister P Chidambaram will continue to head the panel on Home, Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) on Health and Family Welfare, and Satyanarain Jaitya on Human Resource Development.

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has been nominated to the panel on Information Technology headed by Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur. Olympian Mary Kom and film star Rekha are members of the Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution.