Dishonest: Congress on govt naming nominees different from party list for global outreach
After the government announced on Saturday that Shashi Tharoor would lead one of the seven multi-party delegations set to travel abroad for outreach on Operation Sindoor, the Congress described the NDA’s move as “dishonest and diversionary.”
Tharoor is not part of the official Congress list of four MPs that the government had requested from the party on Friday morning. The Congress list includes Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Raja Brar, and Syed Nasir Hussain, while the government’s list features Tharoor, Salman Khurshid, Manish Tewari, and Amar Singh.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had called Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday, requesting four names, which the party submitted by 12:30 pm.
“When the minister called, we were not given any indication that the government would release its own list of nominees. We were asked for four names, which we provided. To go ahead and announce names other than those is plain dishonest and diversionary,” said Jairam Ramesh.
He added that the party would not change its nominees, even as government sources stated that they would proceed with the pre-decided names for the delegations.
When asked what the Congress would do now, considering Tharoor has accepted the government’s invitation and the other Congress MPs named by the government may proceed with the global tour, Jairam Ramesh said, “We don’t know what will happen now. It is up to the government to decide. What can we do? We followed our dharma. The government’s intentions are dishonest.”
Jairam said it is highly probable that the government has made up its mind on who to send and just made a pretence of calling up political parties to show unity.
On whether the party would see Tharoor’s acceptance of the government invitation as indiscipline, Jairam sufficed to say, “All I will say is — there’s a difference between being in the Congress and being of the Congress.”
The Congress party’s stance means it would not act against Khurshid, Tewari, or Amar Singh if they decide to participate in the government’s global outreach.
Meanwhile, Jairam Ramesh also reiterated the Congress’s demand for a special session of Parliament to reaffirm India’s pledge to the February 22, 1994 resolution, which says the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir, including PoK, is an integral part of India.
Ramesh also termed government’s exercise to send multi-party delegations abroad as a “damage control exercise”, stating that it had lost the narrative surrounding Operation Sindoor.
Recalling Indira Gandhi’s defiance of the US in 1971, Jairam said, “The PM should have spoken about US President saying for the seventh time yesterday that he intervened to mediate between India and Pakistan and dangled the trade carrot to get this done but the PM continues to choose silence.”
India