‘Insecure’ vs ‘dishonest’: Govt, Cong at war over choice of MPs for global outreach on Pak strikes
The government on Saturday night announced the constitution of seven delegations comprising 59 members that will travel across the world from May 22 to articulate the Indian position on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and Operation Sindoor. The announcement came hours after the Centre and the Congress engaged in a war of words over the selection of MPs for the exercise.
In the 59-member group, there are 45 MPs, with 16 belonging to the Opposition. Prominent among them are Congress’ Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Amar Singh, Salman Khurshid and Anand Sharma; Supriya Sule (NCP-SP), K Kanimozhi (DMK), Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), Yusuf Pathan (TMC), Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena-UBT) and John Brittas (CPM).
Also in the delegation are ex-minister and former Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad and BJP’s MJ Akbar and SS Ahluwalia, both non-MPs. Eight former ambassadors have been included namely Taranjit Sandhu, Harsh Shringla, Pankaj Saran, Manjeev Puri, Syed Akbaruddin, Javed Ashraf, Sujan Chinoy and Mohan Kumar. At least one former ambassador has been assigned to each of the seven delegations with every group featuring eight or nine members. After the government announced the final delegations, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “It is very insincere of the government to have included only one of the four MPs suggested by the Congress in the official delegations. The four Congress MPs on the Congress’ list will, of course, go. The Congress won’t stoop to the pathetic level of the BJP.”
Earlier in the day, the Congress accused the government of “dishonesty, diversion and playing games” after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju announced four-time Congress MP Tharoor would lead one of the delegations.
The position flowed from the variance between the names of four MPs on the government’s list and the one sent by the Congress. While the government contacted Congress’ Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Salman Khurshid and Amar Singh for the tour, the party nominated former minister Anand Sharma and MPs Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Nasir Hussain and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring. In the final delegation list, however, the government included Anand Sharma on the Congress’ suggestion. Tharoor was the first Congress MP to accept the invitation to travel to five global capitals despite absence from the official Congress list. As he did not seek the party’s permission, Jairam said, “It is one thing to be in the Congress and another to be of the Congress. There is a world of difference between the two.”
Thiruvananthapuram MP Tharoor, meanwhile, took to X and said, “I am honoured by the invitation. When national interest is involved and my services are required, I will not be found wanting. Jai Hind!”
The Congress expressed surprise at the government’s announcement, which was different from the names party president Mallikarjun Kharge had sent yesterday on being asked to do so by Rijiju. “Rijiju spoke to Congress chief Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday. The Congress was asked to submit four names, which the party sent by noon,” said Jairam. Asked if Tharoor’s act of proceeding on the tour despite absence from the Congress nominee list would be treated as an “act of defiance”, Jairam said, “The Congress has announced its nominees today and they will not be changed. We had sent the names to the government yesterday by 12.30 pm and yet the government announced its own list. We do not know what will happen now. It is for the government to see.
“All we can say is that it is dishonest to first ask for names and then announce others. We welcome the multi-party delegations, but the government is playing games. Probably they had already finalised the names and only made a pretence of contacting the opposition parties for nominations.”
Before the Congress cleared his name, former External Affairs Minister Khurshid told The Tribune he would not be travelling with the government delegation because his name was not on the Congress list. “After I was contacted by the government yesterday, I had requested my party to take a call,” Khurshid said.
Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh told The Tribune he was touring his constituency and was not aware of the developments. “I will talk to my party first,” he said. Manish Tewari, in Mumbai to attend a meeting of the joint parliamentary committee on “one nation, one election”, could not be reached for comments.
