Parliament's standing committees were constituted on Thursday. The notification of the committees was announced by a communique issued by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. Congress leader and LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was named as a member of the Committee on Defence and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kangana Ranaut in the Committee on Communications and Information Technology.

BJP's Bhartruhari Mahtab will helm the key panel on Finance, while Congress' Shashi Tharoor is set to head the panel on External Affairs. The panel on Home Affairs will be headed by BJP member Radha Mohan Das Agrawal. 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.

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. TDP MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy will chair the committee on Housing and Urban Affairs.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey was appointed as the chairman of the committee on Communications and Information Technology, of which actor-turned-politician Ranaut is also a member.