Abhishek Banerjee to represent Trinamool in Operation Sindoor delegation
Trinamool MP Yusuf Pathan withdrew his name from the delegation on Monday.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will join the delegation travelling abroad to present India’s viewpoint on Operation Sindoor, the party announced on Tuesday.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee nominated the TMC Lok Sabha MP to the all-party delegation for the global outreach against terrorism on Tuesday when Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju reached out to her on phone to "seek her suggestion for a representative from TMC", a party functionary said.
The phone call came a day after TMC lawmaker and former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan, who was named by the central government as a member of a delegation headed by Janata Dal (United) leader Sanjay Jha, stepped aside on the party’s instructions. Banerjee later explained that the Centre had named Pathan without consulting the TMC leadership. “We were not contacted about this,” Mamata Banerjee said on Monday.
Also read: Mamata Banerjee explains why Yusuf Pathan withdrew from Op Sindoor delegation
Party leaders said the government had only contacted TMC's Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandopadhyay and later Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien before it announced Pathan's name.
Announcing Abhishek Banerjee’s inclusion in the delegation, the TMC said on X, “At a time when the world must unite to confront the growing threat of terrorism, Shri Abhishek Banerjee’s inclusion brings both conviction and clarity to the table. His presence will not only reflect Bengal’s firm stand against terror but also strengthen India’s collective voice on the global stage.”
TMC leaders said Banerjee’s move to replace Yusuf Pathan, a first-time MP from Baharampur, with Abhishek would also add political heft to the Trinamool's representation in the panel. In the Trinamool’s hierarchy, Banerjee is the second-in-command next only to Mamata and the international exposure could also add to his leadership credentials.
Rijiju’s outreach on Tuesday underlines the central government’s effort to include all major political parties for the important national issue.
Abhishek Banerjee, who is also a member of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs on Monday, told reporters after the panel meeting that the TMC would “stand shoulder to shoulder with the Union government” when it comes to fighting terror but the Centre couldn’t unilaterally decide who would represent the TMC.
“This is not the time to play politics. TMC will send members if the government asks,” he said. He added the government has not contacted the TMC, which is the only party so far to withdraw its MP from the delegation.
This is not the first time that the TMC has withdrawn a nominee who was directly named by the government. During the Atal Bihar Vajpayee regime, Trinamool’s Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandopadhyay was invited directly by the prime minister to take oath as a minister of state. An upset Mamata Banerjee wrote to Vajpayee and ultimately Sudip Bandopadhyay was not inducted in the Union council of ministers at the time
This time, the Trinamool decided to uphold the party’s basic principles even as the issue related to national security and international diplomacy.
The controversy began on Saturday after the government didn’t include Congress’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain, and Lok Sabha MP Raja Brar –– all nominated by the party –– and instead named former Union ministers Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Salman Khurshid, and Fatehgarh MP Amar Singh.
The Congress said parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju spoke to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday morning, and by noon, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi sent four names -- former minister Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain, and Raja Brar.
But the final list released by Rijiju on Saturday night didn’t include Gogoi, Hussain or Brar. Instead, former Union ministers Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Salman Khurshid, and Fatehgarh MP Amar Singh – who weren’t nominated by the party – were named.
The Congress leadership, however, allowed its leaders to join the delegation given the importance of the issue. But it accused the government of "complete insincerity" and playing "cheap political games" after only one of its four nominees — Anand Sharma -- for delegations to be sent to world capitals to articulate India’s anti-terror stance post-Operation Sindoor were chosen.
