Tharoor likely to make way for Shinde-faction MP as IT panel chief

NEW DELHI: The Standing Committees for both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are likely to be reconstituted in the coming days.

The principal opposition party Congress is likely to lose out on several committees where the chairman was from their party.

This also includes the Standing Committee for Communications and Information Technology which was chaired by Lok Sabha MP Dr Shashi Tharoor.

Top sources told ANI, the chairmanship of the Committee will go to the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner the Eknath Shinde-led faction of Shiv Sena. Sources from Shiv Sena have confirmed the news to ANI.

It is learnt that the party has decided to nominate the name of MP Prataprao Jadhav for the same. "Our party has been offered the chairmanship of the IT committee and after consultation with top leaders, we have decided to nominate Jadhav," the Sena sources said.

Prataprao Jadhav is a Lok Sabha MP from the Buldhana constituency in Maharashtra. Jadhav was one of the many Shiv Sena MPs who jumped into the rebellion ship led by Eknath Shinde. Notably, several opposition MPs including Karti Chidambaram, John Brittas and others had written to Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla, requesting for the continuation of Tharoor as chairman of the IT panel. The Standing Committee for Communications and Information Technology has been a point of friction between the ruling BJP MPs and the Opposition MPs led by chairman Tharoor.

Another member of the IT panel Nishikant Dubey on several occasions has asked for the removal of Tharoor citing his personal party-driven agenda and had also moved a couple of breach of Privilege Motions against him.

In September 2019, Shashi Tharoor, a Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, was appointed as the chairman of the Committee for Communications and Information Technology by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Despite opposition from several BJP MPs, Tharoor was reappointed as the panel chief in September 2021 through a voice vote.