TMC joins row over nominees for Operation Sindoor global outreach
Congress refuted Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju’s claims that the government didn’t seek nominations from the main Opposition party
The Trinamool Congress on Monday withdrew its lawmaker from a delegation travelling abroad to present India’s viewpoint on Operation Sindoor even as the Congress refuted Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju’s claims that the government didn’t seek nominations from the main Opposition party.
Renewed politics over the seven delegations, which will travel to international capitals and disseminate India’s stance on Operation Sindoor across the globe, began on Monday, two days after the inclusion of senior Congress leaders – particularly Shashi Tharoor – that appeared to bypass the party’s nomination sparked a controversy.
Trinamool Congress lawmaker and former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan was named in the delegation which was headed by Janata Dal (United) leader Sanjay Jha and going to Indonesia, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Japan and Singapore. But his inclusion came under a cloud on Monday.
“We were not contacted about this,” party chief Mamata Banerjee said. “Nowadays, the system is that they do not inform the mother party but inform the parliamentary party. But the parliamentary party works for parliamentary sessions. They cannot make policy decisions,” she said.
“If the request comes to us, of course we can consider it. We always support the central government’s policy (on external affairs)...If they request me to send someone, we will decide on the name and tell them. It is not that we are boycotting or not going,”she added.
Later, party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said that TMC was still willing to send its MP in the delegation.
“When it comes to fighting terror and protecting national interest, TMC will stand shoulder to shoulder with the Union government. But the Centre can’t decide unilaterally who will go from which party. We should also send family members of the victims of terror, we should also send army officers,” he said.
“This is not the time to play politics. TMC will send members if the government asks,” he said. He added that the government has not contacted the TMC, which is the only party so far to withdraw its MP from the delegation.
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.
On Sunday, Rijiju told a few news outlets that the government didn’t ask for nominations from other parties. He said that asking for nomination for such delegations was not the practice and that he informed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge about the government’s choices out of courtesy.
Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh hit back at Rijiju on Monday. “That’s a lie. He had a conversation with Congress president (Mallikarjun Kharge) and Rahul Gandhi on 16 May. Immediately after that, a letter was sent to Kiren Rijiju formally by Rahul Gandhi, suggesting four names from the Congress party… We don’t want to make it a topic of politics anymore.”
During the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime, TMC’s Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandopadhyay was invited directly by the PM to take oath as a minister of state. An upset Mamata Banerjee wrote to Vajpayee and ultimately Bandopadhyay was not inducted in the Union council of ministers.
On Saturday, 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 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 – was included in the delegations to be sent to world capitals to articulate India’s anti-terror stance after Operation Sindoor.
According to a Trinamool Congress leader, Rijiju first approached Trinamool Congress’s Lok Sabha floor leader Sudip Bandopadhyay to join the delegation. He politely refused the offer citing health issues. The government then went ahead and announced Yusuf Pathan’s name without consulting any other TMC leaders, said the leader, requesting anonymity.
Pathan is a first time MP from Baharampur. He defeated Congress heavyweight Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
