Joshi PAC chief again,Cong has a new team

Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi has been re-appointed as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) despite talk in Congress circles of a bid to oppose the move. Joshi,whose term ended on Saturday,was nominated by the BJP,following which Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar re-appointed him as PAC chief for another year.

Interestingly,the Congress has elected a formidable team to the PAC,with the new members including Girija Vyas,Jayanthi Natarajan,Sandeep Dikshit,Jagdambika Pal and Sanjay Nirupam — all familiar Congress voices during important debates. Among those who have been dropped are Satpal Maharaj,Navin Jindal and Jitendra Singh,while Saifuddin Soz,K S Rao and K Sudhakaran have been re-elected.

The BJP has replaced Yashwant Sinha,Ramen Deka and Kalraj Mishra with Anant Kumar Hegde,Yasso Naik and Prakash Javadekar. JD(U) member N K Singh,who had recused himself from a sitting of the committee,has been left out of the new PAC.

The BSP’s strength has gone up from one to two — Satish Mishra and Baliram. Among the other new members are Tariq Anwar (NCP) and Adhi Sankar (DMK).