NEW DELHI: The row over the nomination of parliamentarians to the multi-party delegation continued on Monday, with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee clarifying that no request came to the "mother party" for names for the delegation.
"They cannot decide member's name on their own. It is not their choice, the party [Trinamool] will decide. If they request the mother party will decide as is customary. We are totally with the Central government on external affairs policies," she said.
Speaking to the media, AITC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee said that the Centre should have held discussions with the Opposition to decide which representative to send.
His comments come amid reports that the TMC has conveyed to the government that Yusuf Pathan, nominated by the Centre, will skip the delegation.
“How can the Union government decide the representative of Trinamool? They should have held discussions with the Opposition to decide which representative a party will send,” said Banerjee.
Pathan was part of the delegation led by JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha, which is scheduled to visit Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore. The team will be briefed by the Foreign Secretary on May 20 and will depart on May 21.
According to sources, the government chose Pathan after Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandhyopadhyay opted out, citing health reasons.
Reiterating the party’s support for the government in combating Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, Banerjee said that the Modi government must show good intent and consult other parties before deciding on the representatives.
“The BJP government is at the helm of affairs. They can decide for their party, but not for Congress or AAP..."
Banerjee added that Trinamool is the only party that has not politicised the matter of national security.
Reaffirming her party's support for the Union government on matters of external affairs, Mamata Banerjee said her party was not boycotting the Centre's multi-party diplomatic mission aimed at countering Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and would send its representatives once a formal request is received from the Centre.
She stressed that the Centre should not decide which party sends whom as part of the delegation.
"We were not contacted about this. Nowadays, they only inform the parliamentary party, not the main outfit. The parliamentary party cannot take policy decisions," the West Bengal Chief Minister said.
"No request to send a representative's name for the outreach programme came to us. If it had, then of course we could have considered it. We are totally in favour of the country on matters of external affairs.
Naming representatives for diplomatic multi-party delegations to counter Pak-backed terrorism is the choice of parties, not of the Centre," Banerjee said.
Earlier, the Congress had also 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 others did not find a place in the government’s list.
Fifty-one political leaders, parliamentarians, and former ministers cutting across party lines will be part of the seven delegations traveling to world capitals to present India's resolve to tackle terrorism against the backdrop of Operation Sindoor.
The seven delegations, led by Baijayant Panda, Ravi Shankar Prasad (both BJP), Sanjay Kumar Jha (JD-U), Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena), Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Kanimozhi (DMK), and Supriya Sule (NCP-SP), will visit a total of 32 countries and the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Each delegation comprises seven or eight political leaders and is assisted by former diplomats. Of the 51 political leaders, 31 are part of the ruling NDA coalition, while the remaining 20 are from non-NDA parties.
(With inputs from PTI)
