Third Eye: Never a dull moment with this actor-turned politician, not complaining about extra work and rare unanimity on choices

Never a dull moment with this actor-turned politician:
Malayali actor-turned politician and Union minister Suresh Gopi has been in the news since taking office for committing a few faux pas. Another gaffe happened on Monday when Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar called out his name to lay papers related to his ministry. Gopi, who had laid a set of papers on the ministry of petroleum and natural gas a few seconds ago, got up and said he had already done so. Dhankhar said this is about a report - the CAG report on Information Systems Audit of Central Public Enterprises. After some confusion, Gopi re-read the earlier statement (on petroleum ministry) and had to be corrected by the Chair who said the serial number is 3 not 2.

Not Complaining About Extra Work
Some Rajya Sabha members are amused that the Lok Sabha’s practice of dispensing with lunch hour and sitting for an extra hour has been implemented in their House too. Speaker Om Birla had made long sittings a regular feature to finish listed business. But Rajya Sabha has half the strength of the Lower House and hence much fewer speakers in any discussion on a bill or an issue. But this gives members more time to speak, hence they are not complaining.


Rare Unanimity on Choices
After a very long time, members of most of the parliamentary standing committees of the Lok Sabha were selected unanimously, without elections. Usually, even within the same party there used to be differences among MPs about the membership of a parliamentary panel. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju has appreciated both the ruling and Opposition sides for smooth formation of the parliamentary committees.