Dinner Today: Rajya Sabha Chairman Dhankhar has dinner today

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has organized a dinner of leaders of all the major parties of the House at his official residence in Delhi today. This is his first such banquet after taking office. It is believed that on this occasion, the opposition parties can raise the issue of reorganization of various committees of the House and giving them the post of chairman. 

Sources in the Secretariat of Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Dhankhar say that the leaders of all the parties of the House have been invited to attend the banquet. Dhankhar has got the post of Rajya Sabha Chairman as Vice President after Venkaiah Naidu retired from the post of Chairman. He has hosted this banquet for the first time after assuming this post a few months back. 

Apart from leaders of all parties in the Rajya Sabha, the Leader of the House, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and members of the House, some senior Union Ministers have also been invited for the banquet. Sources related to this banquet say that the opposition parties can raise the issue of reorganization and chairmanship of Rajya Sabha committees headed by him on this occasion. They can request the Speaker to maintain the cordiality that has been maintained for the opposition parties for decades, while the government intends to make some changes. 

It is believed that the main opposition party Congress may lose the post of chairman of the important Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The chairman of this committee is shared by the Rajya Sabha. About a fortnight ago Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to Piyush Goyal regarding this post. In this, Kharge cited parliamentary traditions and said that the post of the chairman of this committee has always been given to the opposition. 

Kharge said in the letter that while reconstituting the parliamentary committees, it is believed that the post of chairman of the parliamentary standing committees related to the ministries of science and technology, environment, forest and climate change is being given to the Congress. Kharge has requested Goyal that this time also the post of chairman of the Standing Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs can be given to the Congress. 

other hand, sources in the office of the Rajya Sabha Chairman say that the Congress does not have enough numbers to get the post of chairman of the committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Prior to this, during the 10th Lok Sabha, the post of Chairman of the Committee on Home Affairs from 1993 to 1996 belonged to the ruling Congress, while he was also in the ruling party. Then this post was given to MM Jacob and Rajni Ranjan Sahu.