The decision comes amid Opp’s no-confidence resolution against Speaker Om Birla. (Express file photo/Anil Sharma)AT A time when the Opposition has moved a no-confidence resolution against him, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has constituted Parliamentary Friendship Groups with 64 countries and appointed senior Opposition leaders to head over a dozen of them. Each of these groups have 11 members, including those from the Rajya Sabha too.Key Opposition leaders who will chair the parliamentary groups are Congress’s Shashi Tharoor (France), P Chidambaram (Italy), K C Venugopal (Portugal) Manish Tewari (Australia) and Gaurav Gogoi (Philippines), DMK’s K Kanimozhi (Greece), Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien (Chile) and Abhishek Banerjee (Algeria), Shiv Sena-UBT leader Arvind Sawant (Morocco), NCP-SP’s Supriya Sule (Singapore), AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi (Oman), Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav (Japan) and Ram Gopal Yadav (Egypt), AAP leader Sanjay Singh (Caribbean countries) and RSP’s N K Premachandran (Madagascar)Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been made a member of the friendship group for Japan, led by Akhilesh Yadav. The Opposition MPs who were suspended during the first phase of the Budget Session have also been selected for these groups. Among Congress MPs who were suspended from the House, Manickam Tagore has been appointed a member of the friendship group for Indonesia, Gurjeet Singh Aujla for Italy, Hibi Eden for Singapore, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring for the UK, Prashant Padole for Trinidad and Tobago, Dean Kuriakose for Saudi Arabia and C Kiran Kumar Reddy for South Korea. CPI(M) member S Venkatesan has been made a member of the parliamentary group for Cuba.BJP leaders appointed as chairpersons of the parliamentary groups include Ravi Shankar Prasad (United Kingdom), Baijayant Panda (USA), Nishikant Dubey (Russia), Anurag Thakur (EU Parliament, Brussels), Rajiv Pratap Rudy (Switzerland), Bhartruhari Mahtab (Israel), Hema Malini (South Africa), Ashok Chavan (Argentina), Samik Bhattacharya (New Zealand), and Aparajita Sarangi (Tanzania).Shiv Sena leader Shrikant Shinde (Indonesia), JD(U) member Sanjay Jha (Germany), AIADMK’s M Thambidurai (Nigeria) and TDP’s Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu have also been assigned as group leaders.The move comes days ahead of the Lok Sabha reconvening for the second phase of Budget Session on March 9. The Lower House is set to take up the non-confidence motion against the Speaker whom the Opposition has accused of acting in a “blatantly partisan” manner.“The idea behind the initiative is to allow lawmakers to speak directly to their counterparts abroad, share legislative experiences and build trust through regular engagement and exchange best practices to further strengthen bilateral relations and promote greater mutual understanding,” said a note from the Lok Sabha secretariat.Story continues below this adMembers of each group are expected to facilitate conversations on trade, technology, social policy, culture and global challenges that democracies face, beside the parliamentary procedure with the legislators of the respective countries.“The move reflects a conscious effort by the Indian Parliament to deepen dialogue and exchanges with legislatures across continents and to complement traditional diplomacy with sustained parliamentary interaction,” Birla said. Officials said such initiatives, which prioritise Parliament to Parliament and people to people connections, signal a more participatory approach to foreign engagement.After Operation Sindoor in May last year, India had dispatched seven multiparty parliamentary delegations to 33 countries to convey India’s stand against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Om Birla