The Congress on Monday rejected Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju’s claim that the government had not asked political parties to nominate members for the all-party delegations being sent abroad to reiterate India’s position on Operation Sindoor, PTI reported.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the Union government had chosen just one of the four names the party had suggested.

The government had added names of four other Congress leaders without consulting the party, Ramesh alleged. “That was unfair on the part of the BJP and was cheap politics,” Ramesh was quoted as saying.

Ramesh said that if Congress MPs were to be included in the delegations, the government should have consulted party leaders, ANI reported.

“We have no issues with the names that have been chosen,” ANI quoted Ramesh as saying. “They are my good friends, they are experienced and have been working on foreign and defence policy for several years. The process that has been chosen is wrong. This is a notorious process, this should not have been done.”

In a social media post, the Congress’ communications chief criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sending all-party delegations despite “abusing and defaming” the Opposition for 11 years.

“The truth is that the BJP's poisonous politics at home has cost us hugely abroad,” Ramesh said. “Our sanctimonious diplomacy has fallen flat and India is back to being hyphenated with Pakistan. It is a reflection of his own inadequacies – now completely exposed – that the prime minister is now turning towards bipartisanship.”

On Monday, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rijiju had claimed that the government had not sought nominations from political parties for the all-party delegations, The Indian Express reported.

“No party was asked to suggest names for the multi-party delegations for rallying global support for India’s war against terror originating from Pakistan,” Rijiju said. “The government has picked leaders including those from the Opposition and contacted them directly but the Opposition should not make it an issue as they are on a solemn duty representing the country, not a party.”

He added: “It’s a time we should stand united and the Opposition should cooperate with the government in its efforts to do its duty.”

Opposition leaders Shashi Tharoor, Supriya Sule and Kanimozhi are among MPs who will lead all-party delegations to foreign capitals, the Union government announced on Saturday.

Less than an hour after the government released the list of MPs leading the delegations, Ramesh had said on social media that the Congress had submitted four names – Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain and Raja Brar – to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs after the Opposition party was “asked to submit names”.

Of this list, Sharma is part of the delegation that will travel to Egypt, Qatar, Ethiopia and South Africa.

Besides Tharoor and Sharma, the other Congress leaders picked by the government were Salman Khurshid and Manish Tewari.

Seven delegations have been formed to visit “key partner countries”, including members of the United Nations Security Council, later in May “in the context of Operation Sindoor and India’s continued fight against cross-border terrorism”, the government said.

“The all-party delegations will project India’s national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations,” the government said. “They [the delegations] would carry forth to the world the country’s strong message of zero-tolerance against terrorism.”

On May 10, India and Pakistan reached an “understanding” to halt firing following a four-day conflict.

Tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad had escalated on May 7 when the Indian military carried out strikes – codenamed Operation Sindoor – on what it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The strikes were in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 persons on April 22.

The Pakistan Army retaliated to Indian strikes by repeatedly shelling Indian villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. At least 22 Indian civilians and seven defence personnel were killed.

Pakistan has claimed that 40 of its civilians and 11 military personnel were killed.

TMC withdraws Yusuf Pathan from delegation

The Trinamool Congress has informed the Union government that it will not send Yusuf Pathan or any of its MPs to join the delegations, The Telegraph reported.

“The parliamentary party... they cannot make policy decisions,” the newspaper quoted TMC chairperson and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as saying on Monday. “No requests came to us [the parent party]. If it does, of course, we could consider it. If anything is special, we will think about it, but not right now.”

She clarified that the party was not boycotting the initiative and expressed support for “central government’s views and actions” on matters of national security.

The cricketer-turned-politician was the sole TMC representative in the delegations, The Telegraph reported.

He was to be a part of the delegation led by Janata Dal (United)’s Sanjay Kumar Jha, which will visit Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Other members of the delegation are Congress leader Khurshid, BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi and Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas, The Indian Express reported.

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