MPs picked for global outreach, Shashi Tharoor’s role sparks row
The inclusion of Shashi Tharoor sparked a row immediately after the Congress revealed it didn’t name the MP as part of its four nominations to the government
The Centre on Saturday announced the names of lawmakers who will travel to international capitals and disseminate India’s stance on Operation Sindoor across the globe, but the inclusion of senior Congress leaders, particularly Shashi Tharoor, that appeared to bypass the party’s nomination sparked a controversy.
The Union parliamentary affairs ministry announced in the morning that the seven delegations will be led by Tharoor; Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad and Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda; Janata Dal (United) leader Sanjay Jha, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule, and Shiv Sena leader Shrikant Shinde.
But the inclusion of Tharoor sparked a row immediately after the Congress revealed it didn’t name the Thiruvananthapuram MP as part of its four nominations to the government.
“The delegations will project India’s national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations. They would carry forth to the world the country’s strong message of zero-tolerance against terrorism,” the ministry said in a statement.
In the evening, the government released the names of all 59 people – including lawmakers and former ambassadors – who will be part of the seven delegations across the globe.
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 wrote back with four names -- former minister Anand Sharma, Congress’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain, and Lok Sabha MP 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. Functionaries aware of the matter said Khurshid was unlikely to go.
Tharoor, a former UN diplomat and former minister of state for external affairs, accepted the government’s invitation. “I am honoured by the invitation of the government of India to lead an all-party delegation to five key capitals, to present our nation’s point of view on recent events. When national interest is involved, and my services are required, I will not be found wanting. Jai Hind!” the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.
But the Congress appeared displeased. “There is a difference between being in the Congress and of the Congress…the Congress is like the mighty Ganga, which has many tributaries… Some of them dry up and some get polluted,” said senior leader Jairam Ramesh.
When asked if the party will take punitive action against Tharoor, Ramesh said it was “too far-fetched”. “The government cannot include names of MPs without consulting the party…Asking for four names, giving four names, and announcing another name is dishonest on the government’s part,” he added.
Tharoor didn’t respond to the comments. The BJP hit back. “No one can deny Shashi Tharoor’s eloquence, his long experience as a UN official, and his deep insights on matters of foreign policy. So why has the Congress — and Rahul Gandhi in particular — chosen not to nominate him?” asked BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya.
Functionaries said Rijiju’s office separately approached senior Congress leaders such as Tewari, Sharma, Khurshid and Tharoor.
Operation Sindoor was India’s direct military response to the April 22 terror strike at Pahalgam in Kashmir that killed 26 civilians in what was the worst attack on civilians since the 26/11 Mumbai strikes.
India launched the operation in the early hours of May 7, bombing nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The pre-dawn strikes --- which killed at least 100 terrorists --- sparked a series of attacks and counter-attacks across the western border, involving fighter jets, missiles, armed drones, and fierce artillery and rocket duels. In one such counterattack on the night of May 9-10, the air force struck targets at 13 Pakistani air bases and military installations. After four days of fighting, military hostilities were stopped on May 10 as the two nations reached an understanding.
Tharoor’s delegation – which also contained Lok Janshakti Party MP Shambhavi Choudhary, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP Sarfaraz Ahmad, Telugu Desam Party leader Harish Balayogi, BJP leaders Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya and Bhubaneswar Kalita, Shiv Sena leader Milind Deora, and former US ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu – might leave on June 24 for the US, Guyana, Colombia, Panama and Brazil.
The delegation headed by Sule also comprised BJP members Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Anurag Thakur and V Muraleedharan, Congress leaders Tewari and Sharma, Aam Aadmi Party leader Vikramjeet Singh Sahney, TDP member Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu and former diplomat Syed Akbaruddin.
The delegation headed by Jha – which was headed to Indonesia, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Japan and Singapore – comprised BJP leaders Aparajita Sarangi, Brij Lal, Pradhan Baruah and Hemang Joshi, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader John Brittas, Trinamool Congress leader Yusuf Pathan, Congress leader Salman Khurshid, and former ambassador Mohan Kumar.
The delegation headed by Shinde – headed to the United Arab Emirates, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone – comprised BJP leaders Bansuri Swaraj, Atul Garg and Manan Kumar Mishra, Indian Union Muslim League leader ET Mohammed Basheer, Biju Janata Dal leader Sasmit Patra, SS Ahluwalia and former ambassador Sujan Chinoy.
The delegation headed by Kanimozhi – headed to Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Latvia and Russia – comprised Samajwadi Party leader Rajeev Rai, National Conference leader Mian Altaf, BJP leader Brijesh Chowta, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Prem Chand Gupta, AAP leader Ashok Mittal, and former ambassadors Manjeev Puri and Jawed Ashraf.
The delegation headed by Prasad – headed to the UK, France, Germany, European Union, Italy and Denmark – comprised BJP leader D Purandeswari and Samik Bhattacharya, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, nominated member Ghulam Ali Khatana, Congress leader Amar Singh, MJ Akbar and former ambassador Pankaj Saran.
The delegation headed by Panda – headed to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Algeria – comprised BJP leaders Nishikant Dubey, Phangnon Konyak and Rekha Sharma, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi, nominated member Satnam Singh Sandhu, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and former ambassador Harsh Shringla.
Rijiju said the government felt there was a need to project India’s voice to the world. One mission. One message. One Bharat,” he posted on X.
Tharoor’s inclusion and the lawmaker’s announcement that he will join the government’s global outreach is likely to widen the rift between him and the Congress. For the past few months, on several diplomatic and security issues including the Pahalgam attack, Tharoor’s line has differed from that of the Congress, even sometimes backing the government.
A senior Congress leader said when Kharge consulted Gandhi about the government’s proposal, the latter initially insisted that the party should pick leaders of its own choice and not adhere to the government’s wish list.
“Honoured to have been named to lead an all-party delegation to carry to the world India’s mighty resolve of zero-tolerance against terror, in the backdrop of Operation Sindoor by Indian Armed Forces,” said Jha on X.
“Yesterday, I got a call from Union minister Kiren Rijiju, who asked me to be a part of one of these committees. It is very clear that when it is a question of our nation, we are all together, and we go to other countries to put forth our country’s view,” Sule said.
