Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has retained his membership in the Parliament's Standing Committee on Defence, while Kangana Ranaut, a first-time parliamentarian from the BJP, has been appointed to the Information Technology (IT) committee. This announcement came in a notification from the Rajya Sabha Secretariat on Thursday.

Rahul Gandhi, who also serves as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, was previously part of the Defence Committee in the last Lok Sabha. The Defence Committee will continue to be chaired by BJP MP Radha Mohan Singh. The Congress has secured the leadership of four committees, including the External Affairs Committee, which will be chaired by former Foreign Minister Shashi Tharoor.

Other key committees led by Congress members include the Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports Committee, chaired by Digvijaya Singh; the Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Food Processing Committee, headed by former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Channi; and the Rural and Panchayati Raj Committee, chaired by Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka. Notably, former Congress President Sonia Gandhi has not been named to any committee.

On the BJP side, members will chair several significant committees, including Finance, Home Affairs, and Coal, Mines, and Steel. Actor-politician Kangana Ranaut will serve on the Communications and IT Committee, which will be chaired by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. Dubey previously replaced Congress' Shashi Tharoor as the head of the IT committee in 2022 after a contentious debate over Facebook’s handling of hate speech.

Other notable appointments include Bhartruhari Mahtab, who will lead the Standing Committee on Finance, and Anurag Thakur and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who will chair the Coal, Mines, and Steel, and Water Resources Committees, respectively. Radha Mohan Das Agrawal will lead the Home Affairs Committee.

From the opposition, prominent members such as the Samajwadi Party's Jaya Bachchan, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, and Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi will serve alongside Kangana Ranaut in the IT committee. Meanwhile, DMK leaders Tiruchi Siva and Kanimozhi will chair the Industry, and Consumer Affairs, and Food and Public Distribution Committees.

BJP allies have also been given leadership roles in several committees. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP will head the Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, while Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) will lead the Transport, Tourism, and Culture Committee. In Maharashtra, ahead of upcoming elections, the BJP’s allies, the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the NCP group headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, will lead the Energy and Petroleum and Natural Gas Committees.

Each standing committee consists of members from both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, serving as a 'mini-parliament' tasked with overseeing the performance of their respective ministries.