Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has released the full list of leaders visiting countries. After this, Congress has reacted to it. One of the seven delegations will be led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor while another team also includes Asaduddin Owaisi.
Fifty-one political leaders, parliamentarians and former ministers cutting across party lines will be part of the seven delegations travelling to world capitals to put across India’s resolve to tackle terrorism against the backdrop of Operation Sindoor.
The delegations led by Baijayant Panda, Ravi Shankar Prasad (both BJP), Sanjay Kumar Jha (JDU), Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena), Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Kanimozhi (DMK) and Supriya Sule (NCP-SP) will visit a total of 32 countries and the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Each delegation comprises seven or eight political leaders and is assisted by former diplomats. Of the 51 political leaders, 31 are part of the ruling NDA, while the remaining 20 are from the non-NDA parties.
All seven delegations have at least one Muslim representation, either among politicians or diplomats.
Only one name suggested by the Congress, Anand Sharma, made it to the list of delegates. The remaining three, Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain, and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, did not figure.
Besides Tharoor, Congress leaders Manish Tewari, Amar Singh and Salman Khurshid are part of the delegations.
The delegations will soon leave for foreign tours to give information to many countries of the world in the context of 'Operation Sindoor' and 'India's continuous fight against cross-border terrorism'.
This shows the lack of seriousness of the Modi govt: Cong
Quoting Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh, the Congress party said in a post on social media platform X, "On the morning of May 16, the Modi government asked Pakistan for the names of 4 Congress MPs/leaders in the delegation being sent abroad to explain India's position on terrorism internationally."
"These 4 names were sent in writing by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs by 12 noon on the same day, 16 May."
The statement said, "When the complete list of all the delegations was officially released late night on 17 May, only 1 name out of the 4 suggested by the Congress was included."
The Congress said, "This shows the lack of seriousness of the Modi government and its poor political strategy on national issues."
What happened is dishonest: Ramesh
Jairam Ramesh said, "Asking four names, giving four names, and announcing another name is dishonest on the government’s part. It is possible that Rijiju had talked to Rahul ji and Kharge even after the government had made up their mind, but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt. But what happened is dishonest. But we are not going to change these four names.”
"However, the 4 eminent Congress MPs/leaders selected by the Modi government who have been included in the delegations will definitely go and contribute."
According to the list released by Kiren Rijiju, it includes leaders from many parties including BJP and Congress.
Earlier, Shashi Tharoor's name was not among the people named by the Congress for the all-party delegation.
According to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, four names were given by Friday afternoon. Among them were the names of Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Dr. Syed Nasir Hussain and Raja Brar.
Prakash Kumar Pandey