He all but got the Speaker’s post after the Lok Sabha elections in May 2009. But an eleventh hour change of mind by the Congress - led UPA saw dark horse Meira Kumar, daughter of the late Jagjivan Ram, in the hot seat instead. The unexpected decision did not leave the man bitter. He kept his cool throughout. And the man one is talking about is senior Congress leader Vyricherla Kishore Chandra Suryanarayana Deo.

Deo is a tribal, albeit of royal lineage. He had his education from the Madras Christian College where the CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat was a contemporary. Apart from English, Deo speaks several Indian languages such as Telugu, Oriya, Tamil and Bangla.

Deo, 62, represented the reserved Parvathipuram constituency of Andhra Pradesh for four terms. He has retained his seat in the present house, winning from Araku (ST) constituency in Andhra Pradesh. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha during 1994-2000.

Deo was Union Minister of State, Ministry of Steel, Mines and Coal during 1979-80 in the Charan Singh government. Chairman of the Privileges Committee in the 14th Lok Sabha, Deo now heads the committee on public undertakings (COPU).

Strict disciplinarian...

Soft spoken and gentle, Deo is a strict disciplinarian when it comes to rules and norms governing the functioning of the parliamentary committee.

In fact at the committee’s meeting before the winter session of parliament, Deo asked TDP MP Nama Nageswara Rao to leave the meeting until discussions on NHAI are over because Rao’s firm had business interests in infrastructure and road construction. Rao, whose firm Madhucon receives NHAI contracts, returned to the meeting after discussions on NHAI were over. Three of the panel’s 22 members have business interests in infrastructure and road construction - TDP MPs Nama Nageswara Rao, Congress MPs (RS )

T Subbirama Reddy and L Rajagopal. Reddy and Rajagopal absented themselves adhering to COPU chairman Kishore Deo’s diktat.

Deo spoke to IE Delhi-representative Nallan Chakravarthi on the working of the National Highway Authority (NHAI). He spoke on how COPU functioned under its mandate granted by parliament. Excerpts:

IE: Sending a member out of the meeting – was it a difficult decision?

Deo: I was only implementing the Speaker’s directions regarding conflict of interest. I cannot allow MPs to use the panel to further their business interest.

IE: You are well known for your proactive role as the chairman of the house committees, especially the privileges committee. How are things moving ?

Deo: The Committee on Public Undertakings generally has three kinds of reports. We take some essential excerpts from CAG reports on the PSUs; secondly, we make comprehensive reports taking 10-15 PSUs together covering essentially every key aspect of a public sector functioning and thirdly, we work on theme-based concept for public undertakings in general. For instance, one can take disinvestment. This time we are working on ‘Corporate Governance and Management.’

IE: What was your experience probing the work of NHAI?

Deo: About the National Highway Authority of India there was already a CAG report on some lapses on the work on Delhi-Gurgaon segment. We took this up and have already given our findings in a report presented to parliament.

IE: Yes, the report has pulled up NHA for lapses….

Deo: The lapses are shocking. There was virtual loot of the public money. (TheNHAI and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways came under fire from COPU for gross neglect and ignoring road safety norms in the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway project. The panel recommended that an independent investigating agency should probe irregularities in theproject. It took a strong view of lack of any guidelines on mode of execution of the project and ‘scant regard for human life’ by NHAI on the expressway.

NHAI also came under fire for traffic snarls at toll plazas. The report says, “… the avoidable confusion and chaos at toll plazas and undue traffic hold-ups there, tend to negate the very purpose for which the expressway was constructed.”

The committee also questioned NHAI’s intentions of awarding the completion certificate to concessionaire DS Constructions even before the project was completed. The report said: “the committee is of the strong view that the whole issue of completion certificate may be revisited by NHAI and those found guilty should be punished and penalty provisions be invoked on the concessionaire.”

The committee observed that the way the entire project was implemented “gave an impression that the government was more interested in fulfilling the commercial interests of the concessionaire instead of serving the public interest.” The committee has recommended that an independent investigating agency should probe the entire matter and taken action against NHAI officials and the concessionaire.