Take a Call: Congress Tells its Four MPs

New Delhi: In another U-turn, the Congress on Sunday asked four of its five leaders who have been nominated on the government delegation to "listen to their voice of conscience on being part of the delegation". Just hours earlier, the party in a tweet had said the Congress leaders picked by the Modi government will be part of the delegations and make their contributions.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “We know that Operation Sindoor is being politicised. But the Congress party believes that national interest is paramount. They have included only one name from our list. Four more are our MPs…they are not representatives of the party, but they should listen to their conscience and not politicise it."

The Congress had recommended four names — Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Nasir Hussain and Raja Brar — to be part of the diplomatic delegations. The BJP-led Central government chose only Sharma and roped in Salman Khurshid, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Amar Singh from the Congress.

In the early hours of Sunday, in a statement, Ramesh said, “The four eminent Congress MPs/leaders who have been included at the instance of the Modi government will, of course, go with the delegations and make their contributions. The INC will not stoop to the pathetic level of the PM and the BJP. It will always uphold the finest traditions of parliamentary democracy and not play partisan politics on national security issues, like the BJP does.”

Hours after the statement, Ramesh, speaking to a news agency, said that the four leaders, including two MPs, are not the official representatives of the Congress. And they should listen to their voice of conscience. He said the nominated MPs are "not representatives of the party, but they should listen to their conscience".

The Congress has expressed strong objection to the Central government choosing only one party MP out of its four nominations for the all-party delegations formed to mobilise global support on Operation Sindoor. The party also said that the government is politicising the entire exercise and demanded that an all-party meeting should be immediately called.

Tharoor has publicly stated that he will not be found wanting if he can give his services for the nation and he will go. While some are still waiting for the party’s clearance, others are planning to go.

Insiders claim that the list of names given by the Congress, even after knowing that the government has reached out to leaders with domain expertise, "reeks of internal rivalry".

Earlier In an apparent swipe at Tharoor, Ramesh said, "Congress mein hona aur Congress ka hona mein zameen-aasmaan ka antar hai (There is a difference between being in the Congress and of the Congress)."

The Congress general secretary further added, “The Congress is like the mighty Ganga, which has many tributaries… Some of them dry up and some get polluted."



Citing that Khurshid was also approached by the government, but he told them that the party has to decide, Mr Ramesh said that the MPs should be asking the party.