Congress MP from Wayanad who is also a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence has not attended even a single sitting of committee which was constituted in September 2019 after the BJP led NDA came to power in May 2019.
The committee has so far held 11 sittings, the last one being March 12 of this year and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has attended none of the sittings.
It is important to note that Rahul Gandhi based his 2019 election campaign on the Rafale deal alleging corruption. However, the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to the Modi government in November 2019. Since the crushing defeat of his party in the elections and the verdict of the Supreme Court, the Congress leader has stayed away from mentioning Rafale deal.
The Parliamentary Committee on Defence comprising of members from different political parties discusses matters related to procurement policy, defence research and development, defence public sector undertakings, demands for grants, welfare for ex-servicemen and other important matters. They also discuss bills, review annual reports of the department and other important matters. The tenure of the committee is 1 year. In essence, the committees function as mini parliament holding the executive accountable. It is expected of an elected MP who is part of the committee to perform these jobs.
The absence of Rahul Gandhi in the sittings of Parliamentary Committees has been a habit. The Congress leader was part of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs during the 16th Lok Sabha (2014-2019). Of the 86 sittings, he attended only 9. In 2014-2015 and 2018-2019, he attended none of its meetings during which the committee met for 30 times. He attended 5 out of 23 sittings in 2017-18, 3 out of 17 in 2016-17 and only one out of 16 in 2015-16.