Overview
- Speaker Om Birla named senior MPs from across parties to lead the groups, including Shashi Tharoor, P. Chidambaram, Akhilesh Yadav, Asaduddin Owaisi, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Baijayant Panda and Anurag Thakur.
- Each group has about 11 members drawn from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, with the panels co-terminus with the current House and further additions planned.
- The first phase covers partnerships with countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, France, Japan, Australia, Russia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and the European Parliament.
- Membership lists include several recently suspended opposition MPs, while Leaders of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge are not included in keeping with convention.
- The effort builds on post–Operation Sindoor multi-party outreach, with China and Pakistan absent from the initial roster, and the announcement comes as the Opposition has moved a no-confidence motion against the Speaker.