Om Birla's 'Friendship Groups' To Be Led By Young MPs Like Shrikant Shinde To 80-Year-Old Chidambaram

Last Updated:February 23, 2026, 23:19 IST

The 'friendship groups' will bring together MPs from across party lines, with several senior opposition leaders appointed to head key delegations as well

From 39-year-old Shrikant Shinde to 80-year-old P Chidambaram, MPs across party lines have been chosen to lead Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s parliamentary “friendship groups".

Speaker Birla, in a significant push to expand India’s inter-parliamentary engagement, has formed these groups to interact with more than 60 countries, marking a renewed effort to strengthen legislative diplomacy alongside traditional foreign policy channels.

Similar delegations were formed last year after ‘Operation Sindoor’ to broadcast India’s successful military strikes against terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.

Once again, Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde will be the youngest leader of a delegation. In sharp contrast, at the age of 80 years old, Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram will also be leading a group.

The initiative aims to deepen dialogue between the Indian Parliament and legislatures across continents, fostering sustained engagement through structured parliamentary exchange. These ‘friendship groups’ will bring together MPs from across party lines, reflecting an emphasis on bipartisan representation in India’s global outreach.

Several senior opposition leaders have been appointed to head key delegations as well. Apart from Chidambaram, who will head the delegation to Italy, senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari will lead the Mexico group.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will lead the delegation to Australia, while NCP(SP) leader Supriya Sule will head the Singapore delegation and DMK’s Kanimozhi will lead the team for Greece. Among other opposition leaders, AAP’s Sanjay Singh will head a delegation while the TMC’s Derek O’Brien will lead the group to Chile and Abhishek Banerjee will head a delegation to Algeria. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has been named to lead the delegation to France, while K Suresh will head the team for Qatar and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi will lead the delegation to Oman.

From the ruling BJP, senior leaders have been entrusted with key assignments. Baijayant Panda will head the delegation to the United States, while former law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will lead the team to the United Kingdom. Sanjay Jaiswal will head the Kenya delegation, Nishikant Dubey will lead the team for Russia, and Anurag Thakur has been chosen for the European Union. Senior Rajya Sabha MP Neeraj Shekhar will lead the Nepal delegation.

The BJP-led NDA has also accommodated allies. The TDP’s Krishna Lavvu will be leading the team for the Maldives, while JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha will head the Germany group, and Shrikant Shinde will lead the delegation to Indonesia.

Among members taking part in the delegations are Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the Japan delegation and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi for the Portugal group.

According to sources, the move follows suggestions from MPs, who took part in the overseas outreach efforts after ‘Operation Sindoor’. They had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to formalise parliamentary friendship groups, a practice that had lapsed in recent years.

Prime Minister Modi is learnt to have assured MPs that such groups will be institutionalised. Birla is said to have personally overseen the formation of the delegations to ensure wide political representation.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju was tasked with coordinating the exercise with the Speaker’s office. Inputs were also sought from the ministry of external affairs regarding India’s relations with various countries.

In total, 64 delegations have been announced. Notably, countries such as Bangladesh, China and Pakistan do not feature on the current list.

Each delegation will have 10 members drawn from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, with representation for women MPs. Ministers and MPs, who expressed inability to travel, have not been included.

The announcement comes at a time of sustained opposition criticism of the Centre’s foreign policy and India’s ties with major global powers. Beyond diplomatic outreach, the initiative is expected to foster a sense of collective representation among MPs across party lines, enabling them to project India as a unified voice on the global stage.

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