The Trinamool Congress has decided not to be a part of the multi-party delegations which are to be sent to different countries to put across the Indian standpoint and rally global support for India’s war against terror originating from Pakistan.
The party has conveyed to the Centre that it will not send Yusuf Pathan or any other party MP as a part of multi-party delegations.
Sources said the Trinamool Congress is also of the view that the Modi Government has embarked on this exercise as a diversionary tactic.
Mamata Banerjee said the Centre did not consult the Trinamool Congress “mother party” to seek the name of its representative in the multi-party delegations, adding: “If they request me to send someone’s name, we will decide it and tell them” The Central Govern- ment has named cricketer- turned-politician Yusuf Pathan, who is a Trinamool Congress MP from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat in Murshidabad, as a member of one of the seven multiparty delegations, which are going to visit several countries in the coming days to convey India’s message in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor. Pathan is the lone Trinamool Congress member included in such a delegation.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee said: “They (Centre) cannot decide the name (of the AITC representative) on their own. If they request the mother party, the party will decide the name.“This is customary and is the system. We are totally with the Centre regarding the foreign policy,” adding that “If they request me to send someone’s name, we will decide it and tell them”.
Mamata said: “Nowadays, they (Centre) don’t inform the mother party, but only the parliamentary party. However, the parliamentary party only works for the Parliament session, it cannot take policy decisions. No requests came to us. If the request comes to us, of course, we can consider it. We are totally in favour of the country’s best interests.”
She also said, “It is wrong to say that we are boycotting or not going. They need to inform the party. The parliamentary party discusses the Bills in Parliament. It takes decisions regarding Parliament, and that too, after consulting with the party. I am the chairperson of the Trinamool Parliamentary Party in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. However, we were never informed.”
Earlier in the day, Trinamool national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee, while speaking to the media at Kolkata airport, said: “How can the Union Government decide on the representative of Trinamool? They should have held discussions with the Opposition to decide which representative a party will send.” Abhishek said, “How can the BJP decide which representative Trinamool will send? Trinamool is not boycotting the (all-party) meeting.
Trinamool is the only party which has not politicised the matter of national security.” He said, “Whatever decision the Union Government takes, which is aimed at combating and curbing terrorism, safeguarding the sovereignty of the nation, and protecting the national interest, we as a party will stand with the Centre shoulder-to-shoulder.”
