New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) Rajya Sabha (Upper House) members Raghav Chadha and Swati Maliwal, who have recently migrated from AAP to BJP, have been nominated to the Committee on External Affairs and to the Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, respectively, in the freshly reconstituted Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees for 2026-27.

Nishikant Dubey, another BJP leader, retains chairmanship of the Committee on Communications and Information Technology while Sandeep Kumar Pathak is on the Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs.

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra find places in the Defence and Home Affairs panels, respectively. Pawan Khera is also on the Defence Panel.

The committees have been reconstituted with effect from September 26, 2026.

According to a Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Bulletin, new chairpersons have been appointed for several key panels including Commerce, Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, Chemicals and Fertilisers, Railways, Defence, Industry and Finance.

BJP’s Sudhanshu Trivedi will now head the Committee on Commerce, replacing Trinamool Congress’ Dola Sen. Sujeet Kumar of the BJP has been appointed chairman of the Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice.

NCPI’s Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar will chair the Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers. Sudheer Gupta takes charge of the Committee on Railways, replacing C. M. Ramesh. Radha Mohan Singh has been named chairman of the Committee on Defence, while DMK’s Tiruchi Siva will lead the Committee on Industry. Bhartruhari Mahtab will chair the Committee on Finance.

Several committees continue under existing chairpersons. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor remains chairman of the Committee on External Affairs. Charanjit Singh Channi continues to head the Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing. Mukul Wasnik retains the Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, and Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav continues as chairman of the Committee on Health and Family Welfare. Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka remains in charge of the Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, while Rajiv Pratap Rudy continues to head the Committee on Water Resources.

Sanjay Kumar Jha retains Transport, Tourism and Culture, and Shrirang Appa Chandu Barne stays as chairman of the Committee on Energy. Radha Mohan Das Agrawal continues to lead the Committee on Home Affairs. Anurag Singh Thakur retains Coal, Mines and Steel; Medha Vishram Kulkarni remains chairperson of Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, and Kanimozhi Karunanidhi continues to head Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

Among other appointments, Shashank Mani will chair the Committee on Labour, Textiles and Skill Development, Tatkare Sunil Dattatrey the Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas, Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy the Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs, and PC Mohan the Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment.

The newly constituted committees will examine subjects related to their respective ministries and departments and submit reports to both Houses of Parliament during 2026-27.

--IANS

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