Parliament's standing committees were constituted on Thursday with BJP's Bhartruhari Mahtab to helm the key panel on Finance and Congress' Shashi Tharoor to head the panel on External Affairs.

The department-related standing committees, which have representation from across party lines, act as mini parliaments and keep a tab on the functioning of various ministries.

The notification of the committees was announced by a communique issued by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.

The committee on Defence will be chaired by former union minister Radha Mohan Singh, while the panel on Home Affairs will be headed by BJP member Radha Mohan Das Agrawal.

The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is a member of the Committee on Defence. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's name does not figure in any of the committees.

Major BJP allies such as the TDP and Janata Dal (United) besides its partners in the poll-bound Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena and the NCP, will be heading one committee each.

The lone NCP Lok Sabha member Sunil Tatkare will be heading the panel on Petroleum and Natural Gas and Shiv Sena's Shrirang Appa Barne will helm the committee on Energy.

JD(U)'s Sanjay Jha will be heading the committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture while TDP's Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy will chair the committee on Housing and Urban Affairs.

Congress members Charanjit Singh Channi and Saptagiri Ulaka have been made chairpersons of the committees on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing; and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj respectively.

DMK's Tiruchi Siva and K Kanimozhi will chair the committees on Industry; and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution respectively.

Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur and Rajiv Pratap Rudy have been given the chairmanships of committees on Coal, Mines and Steel; and Water Resources respectively.

BJP member Nishikant Dubey has been made the chairman of the committee on Communications and Information Technology.

In the previous Lok Sabha, Dubey had a running battle with Tharoor, who was the chair on the panel of Committee and IT. Tharoor was replaced as chair of the crucial committee in 2022.

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