BJP MP Shanta Kumar retained as COPU chairperson

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar was today retained as the chairperson of the crucial 22-member parliamentary Committee on Public Undertakings ( COPU).

Controversial BJP MP Yogi Adityanath, who had been put on the committee last year, has been dropped while party stalwart LK Advani continues as a member. Varun Gandhi is the new entrant to the panel.

Kumar, a two-time Himachal Pradesh chief minister and five -time MP, was not given any ministerial berth in the NDA government because of the age factor.

Of COPU's 22 members, 15 are elected by Lok Sabha while seven come from Rajya Sabha. It has a term of one year. The term of the present committee started today and will end on April 30, 2016.

The election in both Houses of the committee's members is done according to the principle of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.

Apart from Kumar and Advani, the other members of the committee from Lok Sabha -- whose names were announced by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today -- are Varun Gandhi, Ramesh Bais, Pankaj Chaudhary, Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan, Biren Singh Engti, Khambhampati Haribabu, Baijayant Panda, Prahlad Patel, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, Ram Sinh Rathwa, Saugata Roy, B Senguttuvan and Sushil Kumar Singh.

The seven members from Rajya Sabha are Narendra Budania, Muthukaruppan, Praful Patel, Rangasayee Ramakrishna, CM Ramesh, Tapan Kumar Sen and Ramchandra Prasad Singh.

COPU is mandated to examine the reports and accounts of Public Undertakings specified in the Fourth Schedule to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha and to examine the reports, if any, of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on the Public Undertakings.