NEW DELHI: A day after the Centre named him as a member of one of seven multi-party delegations for global outreach, senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid said that the party must take a final call on his participation in the delegation that will travel to key countries to present India’s position on terrorism. Incidentally, the Congress did not recommend Khurshid to be part of the delegation.
The Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs had on Saturday night released a list of 59 MPs who will represent India globally on the issue of Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism and Operation Sindoor.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, the former External Affairs Minister said that some miscommunication needs to be sorted out, and the government must follow the party’s decision.
“I'm yet to be part of the delegation. Though the government has announced my name, the decision is still hanging in the air because my party has to take a call. We have said that the government must follow the party's call. We can't have two sets of nominations, one by the government, one by the party,” he said.
A political row erupted on Saturday after the Congress launched a scathing attack on the government for rejecting the three leaders suggested by the party for the multi-party delegation.
The government has named senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, Punjab MP Amar Singh, Salman Khurshid, Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari, and former Union Minister Anand Sharma as delegation members.
The Congress stated that it had nominated four MPs, Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain, and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, as requested by the government. However, except for Anand Sharma, the government rejected all the others.
Asserting that he will adhere to the party’s final decision, Khurshid said there can only be one set of nominations, and it must be the party’s. “Out of the four people nominated by the party, only one has been chosen by the government. The rest of us have been chosen by the government independently, which is not acceptable because it is the party’s discretion,” he said.
As part of the delegation, Khurshid was scheduled to travel to Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore.
When asked what he would do if the government does not change its position on the names, Khurshid said, “This is a very serious affair and this is not a picnic. When the party has given their choice of names, my understanding is that it should prevail. I will abide by my party’s decision,” he said.
After the government announced the names, Congress said that it would not play partisan politics on national security issues and would uphold the traditions of Parliamentary democracy.
“INC wishes the delegations all the very best,” AICC leader Jairam Ramesh wrote on X.
However, Khurshid said that he will wait for a more definitive decision from the party.
The Congress leader said that he received a call from the government a couple of days ago inviting him to be a part of the delegation. “I asked them to consult my party. I am clueless about what was conveyed between them,” he said.
The Congress has accused the Modi government of being “dishonest and downright mischievous” in asking the Congress for names when, in all probability, they had already decided the list.
It also alleged that the entire delegation exercise is a “diversionary and cosmetic exercise.”
