India Strengthens Global Legislative Ties with New Parliamentary Friendship Groups
Strengthening Global Legislative Relations
On February 24, 2026, Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, announced that the Lok Sabha has established parliamentary friendship groups with over 60 countries to enhance India's legislative engagement on a global scale. This initiative follows the success of Operation Sindoor and aims to bolster parliamentary diplomacy as proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rijiju shared this information in a post on X, highlighting that the formal establishment of these groups was led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. He noted that following the success of Operation Sindoor, Modi proposed the formation of these groups to strengthen ties between India and other nations, with Speaker Om Birla now facilitating the creation of these groups to enhance global democratic relations.
Composition of the Parliamentary Friendship Groups
Under the 18th Lok Sabha, the Parliamentary Friendship Groups (PFG) unite members from all parties in both houses, assigning a designated group leader for each country. Notable leaders include D. Purandeswari (BJP) for Sri Lanka, Poonamben Hemantbhai Madam (BJP) for Kazakhstan, Sanjay Kumar Jha (JD-U) for Germany, and Samik Bhattacharya (BJP) for New Zealand. Other leaders include Rajiv Pratap Rudy (BJP) for Switzerland, Ashok Chavan (INC) for Argentina, and Hema Malini (BJP) for South Africa. Biplab Kumar Deb (BJP) leads the Bhutan group, while Manoj Tiwari (BJP) heads the India-CARICOM group, and K. Sudhakar (BJP) leads the Fiji group.
Leadership Across Regions
For key partners in West Asia and globally, Sudhanshu Trivedi (BJP) leads the Saudi Arabia group, Bhartuhari Mahatab (BJP) for Israel, Vivek Thakur (BJP) for Trinidad and Tobago, and Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu (TDP) for the Maldives. The United States group is led by Baijayant Panda (BJP), Konda Vishweshwar Reddy (BJP) for Kuwait, Dilip Saikia (BJP) for Thailand, and Nishikant Dubey (BJP) for Russia. Mauritius is represented by Jagdambika Pal (BJP) and Ethiopia by Mahesh Sharma (BJP).
European and African Leadership
In Europe, Anurag Singh Thakur (BJP) leads the European Parliament group, Ganesh Singh (BJP) heads Uzbekistan, Arun Singh (BJP) leads the Czech Republic, Bhuvaneshwar Kalita (BJP) for Nordic countries, and Parshottam Rupala (BJP) for South Korea. The Nigeria group is led by M. Thambidurai (AIADMK), Surendra Singh Nagar (BJP) for Poland, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar (AITC) for Bulgaria, Neeraj Shekhar (BJP) for Nepal, and Ravi Shankar Prasad (BJP) for the United Kingdom.
Diverse Appointments
Other notable appointments include Dharmendra Yadav (SP) for Armenia, Gaurav Gogoi (INC) for the Philippines, Rajiv Shukla (INC) for Austria, Kodikunnil Suresh (INC) for Qatar, Mukul Wasnik (INC) for Ireland, Shashi Tharoor (INC) for France, Akhilesh Yadav (SP) for Japan, and P. Chidambaram (INC) for Italy. N.K. Premachandran (RSP) will lead Madagascar, while Kumari Selja (INC) will head Mongolia. From Africa and the Indo-Pacific region, Abhishek Banerjee (AITC), Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), Manish Tewari (INC) from Australia, K.C. Venugopal (INC) from Portugal, and Sasmita Patra (BJD) from Georgia will take leadership roles. Additionally, Aparajita Sarangi (BJP), Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), T.R. Baalu (DMK) from Egypt, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (DMK) from Malaysia, and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy (TDP) from Cuba will also lead various groups.
Leadership in Latin America and Asia
The Suriname group is led by Sanjay Singh (AAP), Morocco by Arvind Ganpat Sawant (Shiv Sena-UBT), Singapore by Supriya Sule (NCP-SP), Indonesia by Shrikant Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena), and the Baltic states by P.V. Midhun Reddy (YSRCP). Brazil is represented by Praful Patel (NCP), Kenya by Prem Chand Gupta (RJD), Chile by Derek O'Brien (AITC), Bahrain by Tiruchi Shiva (DMK), and Ukraine by Arvind Dharmapuri (BJP). Finally, Vietnam is led by Vishnu Dayal Ram (BJP), while Pramod Tiwari (INC) represents Mexico, Devesh Chandra Thakur (JD-U) for Iran, and Sanjay Jaiswal (BJP) for the United Arab Emirates.