New Delhi/IBNS: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor will head the panel on external affairs and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has been appointed as a member of the defence body in the news formed Parliament's standing committees that were constituted on Thursday.

BJP's Bhartruhari Mahtab will helm the key panel on Finance.

The department-related panels, with representations from across party lines, act as mini parliaments and keep a tab on the functioning of various ministries.

The Rajya Sabha Secretariat Thursday announced the notification of the committees by a communique.

Former union minister Radha Mohan Singh will head the committer on Defence while BJP member Radha Mohan Das Agrawal will head the panel on Home Affairs.

Sonia Gandhi's name was not featured on any of the panels.

Major BJP allies such as the TDP and Janata Dal (United) besides its partners in the poll-bound Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena and the NCP, will head one committee each.

The lone NCP Lok Sabha member Sunil Tatkare will be heading the panel on Petroleum and Natural Gas while Shiv Sena's Shrirang Appa Barne will lead the committee on Energy.

JD(U)'s Sanjay Jha will be heading the committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture while TDP's Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy will chair the committee on Housing and Urban Affairs.

Congress members Charanjit Singh Channi and Saptagiri Ulaka have been appointed chairpersons of the committees on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing; and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj respectively.