NEW DELHI: The central government failed to consider opposition representatives in any of the posts of chairman of important parliamentary committees like home affairs and IT. The centre issued an order reorganizing the parliamentary committees.

The main opposition party Congress and the second largest opposition party Trinamool Congress were completely ignored when the important parliamentary committees on home, finance, IT, defence, external affairs and health were reshuffled. The opposition has accused the central government of a brutal action and a move towards dictatorship.

BJP MP and retired IPS officer Brij Lal has replaced Congress MP Manu Abhishek Singhvi as chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs. Anand Sharma was the chairman of this committee earlier.

Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, who is contesting for the post of Congress president, has been dropped from the head of the panel on IT. Instead, Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav, who is on Eknath Shinde's side, was appointed. The ruling party MPs had strongly criticized Tharoor's actions while he was the chairman of this committee. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had written to the Lok Sabha Speaker several times demanding his removal from the post.

Meanwhile, Jairam Ramesh has been reappointed as the chairperson of the panel on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change. This is the only parliamentary committee chairman post that the Congress has. There is no mention of the panel on commercial affairs in the new list. Congress has 53 MPs in Lok Sabha and 31 MPs in Rajya Sabha. Trinamool has 23 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 13 in the Rajya Sabha. But the DMK, which has 24 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 10 in the Rajya Sabha, currently has the chairmanship of two committees.

Tiruchi Siva will head the pane, on industry and M Kanimozhi the panel on rural development and panchayati Raj.

BJP also appointed Rajya Sabha MP Bhubaneswar Kalita as the chairperson of the Health and Family Welfare Committee, replacing Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav. BJP MP Locket Chatterjee will chair the panel on food resources. Her party colleague Vivek Thakur will also be the chairman on the issues of education, women, children, youth and sports. JDU's Rajiv Ranjan Lalan Singh has been appointed to head the Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, replacing Jagadambika Pal. Jagdambika Pal was appointed as the chairperson of the Energy Committee.

However, BJP leaders have not made significant changes in the panels headed by them. Jayant Sinha will continue to head the Finance Committee, Jewell Oram the Defense Committee and PP Chaudhary the Foreign Affairs Committee. Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi also chaired the Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice.