Rajya Sabha Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday nominated former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and others to various Parliamentary Standing Committees, The Indian Express reported. The nominations came a day after 45 of the 61 newly elected members took oath in the Rajya Sabha.

Scindia has become a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Resource Development, while Gogoi has been made a member of the panel on External Affairs. The election of both Scindia and Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha was mired in controversy.

President Ram Nath Kovind had nominated Gogoi to the Upper House in March, just four months after he retired as the chief justice on November 17, 2019. Gogoi had said his presence in Parliament will “be an opportunity to project the views of the judiciary before the legislative and vice versa”. However, several politicians and two retired Supreme Court judges – Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph – had slammed the nomination.

Meanwhile, Scindia’s exit from the Congress in March to join the BJP had led to the collapse of the government in Madhya Pradesh. After Scindia quit the party, at least 22 MLAs, including six state ministers, resigned from the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. Scindia joined the saffron party on March 11 and was named the party’s Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh.

Other nominations

In all, Naidu has nominated 65 members to different committees, according to The Wire. Ramdas Athawale, being a minister, was not nominated to any committee.

Congress members Digvijaya Singh and Mallikarjun Kharge were nominated to the committees on urban development and commerce, respectively. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has been made a member of the committee on defence along with Congress leader Rajeev Satav and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Prem Chand Gupta.

Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, who is yet to take oath, was nominated to the committee on railways. First-time Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and Trinamool Congress leader Mausam Noor will be members of the commerce committee.

Former Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson Harivansh will be part of the Standing Committee on Agriculture. BJP leader Vinay P Sahasrabuddhe was appointed chairperson of the HRD committee as Satyanarayan Jatiya, who earlier held the position, has retired.

TMC leader Dinesh Trivedi will be a member of the committee on Home Affairs, Congress’s KC Venugopal is on the committee on transport, tourism and culture, along with senior Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member Tiruchi Siva. Venugopal’s party colleague Shaktisinh Gohil will be in the IT panel.