Mamata’s nephew replaces Pathan in Op Sindoor panel

Even as government-appointed multi-party delegations prepare to travel from Wednesday to present the Indian position on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, chinks appeared in the opposition INDIA bloc’s armour when it came to responses to the ruling dispensation’s move.

A day after playing hard to get, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress today said it would be participating in the outreach. This announcement followed the government’s move to accept the nomination of Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee to be part of the delegation in place of the official Parliamentary Affairs Ministry nominee Yusuf Pathan.

Pathan dropped out of the delegation with Mamata yesterday saying the government did not have the right to make nominations for the exercise and this was the party’s prerogative.

Abhishek will now travel with the delegation after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju spoke with the Bengal CM today and conveyed to her that her nephew’s name had been accepted.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena UBT, another major INDIA bloc constituent, backed the government and said the exercise of global outreach was “not political”.

Supporting the government’s nomination of party MP Priyanka Chaturvedi for the tour, the party said, “Rijiju had a telephonic call with party president Uddhav Thackeray yesterday, with regards to the delegation. This delegation is about India against terrorism, not politics and on being reassured of this, we have also assured the government that we will do what is right and needed for our country via this delegation.”

Shiv Sena UBT cleared Chaturvedi’s name for the tour a day after senior party MP Sanjay Raut announced that all INDIA bloc parties should have boycotted the exercise.

That was not to be, with DMK and NCP SP both on board for the outreach plan.

DMK chief MK Stalin’s sister K Kanimozhi, nominated by the government, accepted the invitation to lead the delegation to Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Latvia and Russia.

NCP SP’s Supriya Sule too said she was honoured to be on the panel to represent India on the issue of anti-terrorism. She will lead the panel to Egypt, Qatar, Ethiopia and South Africa.

The Congress, meanwhile, remained at variance with the government when it came to nominees for the exercise and said it won’t change its recommendations — Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Nasir Hussain and Raja Brar. To the party leaders chosen by the government — Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Amar Singh and Salman Khurshid — Congress’ advice was to “heed the conscience”. Tharoor, Tewari and Amar Singh are all joining the delegations. Tharoor is heading the one to the US, Panama, Guyana, Brazil and Colombia.