Rekha, Jaya Bachchan come together in a Parliament panel

Actors-turned-parliamentarians Jaya Bachchan and Rekha, seen as long-standing rivals in Bollywood, have been named to the standing committee on information and technology, which has a fair bit of star power.

The committee, headed by young BJP MP Anurag Thakur, also has Hema Malini and Javed Akhtar from the Mumbai film industry and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.

Veteran LK Advani and Varun Gandhi from the BJP, P Karunakaran and Deependra Hooda from the Congress and Derek O'Brien of the Trinamool Congress have also been named to the panel.