Manmohan Singh named member of Parliamentary panel on Finance

NEW DELHI: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is hailed as the architect of economic reforms in the country, is a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, it was announced today.

Incidentally, M Veerappa Moily, who was a minister in the Manmohan Singh government, is heading the Committee on Finance, which also has Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia as its members.

BJP's Jayant Sinha, the Harvard-educated investor and son of former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, is also a member of the Committee so are S S Ahluwalia and Kirit Somaiah of the ruling party.

In 1991, Manmohan Singh, as Finance Minister in the P V Narasimha Rao government, had ushered in economic reforms that changed the face of the country.

Rahul Gandhi is a member of the Committee on External Affairs, while Congress President Sonia Gandhi does not figure in any of the panels announced. In the last Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi had been a member of the Committee on HRD and Sports.

Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge is a member of the Committee on Home Affairs headed by party colleague P Bhattacharya.

There has been a host of senior leaders in the Committee on Defence including BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and Deputy leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha Amarinder Singh.

The committee also includes Olympic silver medalist in shooting and Rajyavardhan Rathore of BJP and IYC chief Rajeev Satav. Former General B C Khanduri, who missed the ministerial bus due to age factor will now head the Committee on Defence,

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar is a member of the Committee on HRD while his party colleague Praful Patel is on the Committee for Industry headed by JD-U leader K C Tyagi.

Former Defence Minister and Congress leader A K Antony is now a member of the Committee on Railways along with party veteran Motilal Vora.

BJP veteran L K Advani is a member of the Committee on Information and Technology headed by young Anurag Thakur (BJP). He is also a member of the Committee on Public Undertakings headed by senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar.