Mamata Banerjee explains why Yusuf Pathan withdrew from Op Sindoor delegation
TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said the Centre had not informed or consult her party before including its Lok Sabha member Yusuf Pathan in the government’s delegation
Kolkata: The Centre did not inform or consult the Trinamool Congress before including its Lok Sabha member and former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan in the all-party delegation that will visit other nations to explain India’s stance on Operation Sindoor, TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee said on Monday shortly after the party withdrew Pathan from the panel.
“It is not that TMC doesn’t want to be in the foreign delegation. Let us be clear on this. Nowadays, the system (in Delhi) is that they (Centre) don’t inform the mother party but inform the parliamentary party,” the West Bengal chief minister said at the Kolkata airport before leaving for north Bengal.
Banerjee said TMC’s Parliament members are not authorised to take a decision on issues like these.
“They take decisions on Bills etc. when Parliament is in session. Currently it is not. If they (Centre) request me to send someone, we will tell them. I am the chairperson of our parliamentary party in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha,” she said.
Banerjee said TMC would not boycott the Centre’s move.
“It is not that we are boycotting. We are fully with the government,” she added.
TMC national general secretary and Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee supported his party’s stand.
He said: “How can the Centre decide who will represent TMC? They should have held discussions with opposition parties on who they want to send. How can BJP decide who will represent Trinamool.”
“TMC is not boycotting the delegation. It is the only party that has not politicised a matter of national security,” he added.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) argued that a decision taken by the Centre on an international matter is above politics.
Bengal BJP unit president Sukanta Majumdar said: “When the Centre takes a decision on an international issue then we should rise above politics. This is not a political team but a government team. Hence, the government should have the power to take such decisions.”
Making his debut in politics in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Pathan defeated veteran Congress Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who was the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Chowdhury, who won Murshidabad district’s Berhampore seat five consecutive times from 1999 to 2019, was defeated by the TMC’s surprise candidate.
