The parliamentary standing committees have finally been constituted with Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar appointing chairmen for the same.

While Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav will head the standing committee on Power, Arun Kumar, Congress parliamentarian from Andhra Pradesh, will be in charge of Petroleum.

It is interesting to note that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's TR Baalu has been accommodated in the standing committees (he will chair the committee on Railways) along with Communist Party of India-Marxist's Sitaram Yechury and Congress leader Jayanthi Natarajan.

Politically speaking, the appointments are a balancing act by the ruling Congress party in consultation with the chief whip of the treasury bench and the Speaker's office. A list was drawn up, which was approved by Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee who in turn got it approved from Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

The chairmen of the standing committees have a special status. They can summon any senior officer and convene a meeting at his or her will in any part of the country. The chairman can also take the committee to any state with prior intimation to have an on-the-spot study.

Arun Kumar, who heads the petroleum ministry's standing committee, is considered too close to late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy. Now, he will have a say in the Krishna-Godavari gas dispute. There is a possibility that the standing committee might visit the basin production centre.