Congress backs Raja, Kalmadi for panel

As former Union ministers A Raja and Suresh Kalmadi, facing serious charges in the 2G spectrum and the Commonwealth Games scams respectively, were nominated to high-profile parliamentary committees, the Congress party came in their support.

“Every member of Parliament has this privilege. He or she gets the option to be a member of some committee, and the party has no role in it. The parliamentary party simply sends a circular to all members asking for their options,” Congress spokesperson P Chacko said.

Chacko, who also heads the privileges committee, asserted that as long as someone is an MP the right to be a member of a parliamentary committee cannot be denied. “This right has nothing to do with other things,” he added.

The parliamentary committees examine the Bills that are forwarded by the House and the opinion of the members shapes the recommendations that are either adopted or rejected by the government.

Raja, a DMK member, has been nominated to the committee on energy and Kalmadi, a suspended Congress MP, to the committee on external affairs. “Kalmadi was there even before the committee was recently reconstituted,” Chacko said.

Among other changes, Rahul Gandhi has moved from the committee on human resources to finance and DMK patriarch Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi has been nominated to human resources committee.