Kiren Rijiju says govt never asked parties for global outreach picks; Cong calls it ‘lies’

Referring to the growing row, Rijiju said, “I don’t think the Opposition should make any controversy out of it now. The delegations were picked for a solemn duty. They are not representing any party, they are representing the country. It’s a time we should stand united and the Opposition should cooperate with the government in its efforts to do its duty.”

Downplaying the protests from the Congress and TMC, Rijiju claimed that the government never asks the parties when it chooses their members for a mission. “When the Lok Sabha Speaker or the Rajya Sabha Chairman selects MPs for foreign visits, they never consult their party leadership. It’s the discretion of the presiding officers. It’s the same with the government,” he said.

At the same time, Rijiju also claimed that the government went out of its way to inform the Congress leadership about the delegations. “I called Leaders of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge and informed them about the delegations. It was after the government picked the members (of the delegations). Rahul Gandhi said he would get back after discussing with Kharge ji. Then he sent the list with four names. But by that time we had selected the members. The call was just a courtesy,” he said.
Rijiju added that ex-Union minister Anand Sharma whose name was added to a delegation figured in the Congress’s list.

The Congress rejected Rijiju’s statement that the government did not ask for names for the multi-party delegations. “That is a lie,” said the Congress’s Communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh. “He (Rijiju) had a conversation with Congress president (Kharge) and LoP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on May 16. Immediately after that, a letter was sent to Kiren Rijiju by Mr Rahul Gandhi formally, suggesting four names from the Congress party. They (government) selected one (Anand Sharma) of the four. They had already made up their mind. There is nothing against them (the chosen members). They are senior and experienced Congress MPs. One of them is a former foreign minister (Salman Khurshid) and others are also experienced on national security… We don’t want to make it a topic of politics anymore. The delegations are going.”

The Congress has maintained that the government had asked the party to suggest names of its members to be part of the multi-party teams.

Apart from Sharma, the Congress’s list sent by Rahul to the government included the party’s Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, and MPs Syed Naseer Hussain and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.

The Congress had not suggested the names of Salman Khurshid and party MPs ManishTewari and Amar Singh, who were included in these teams.

Significantly, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s name did not figure in the list suggested by the party, who was named the head of one of the delegations by the government.

Of the seven delegations, four will be headed by the leaders from the BJP-led NDA and three by the Opposition leaders. Besides Tharoor, the teams will be headed by the BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad and Baijayant Panda, JD(U)’s Sanjay Kumar Jha, DMK’s Kanimozhi, NCP (SP)’s Supriya Sule and Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Eknath Shinde.

On Monday, the TMC announced that it has conveyed to the government that it will not send Yusuf Pathan or any other party MP as a part of these teams. Pathan is the lone TMC face picked as a member of one of the delegations.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee said the government has not consulted her party for a name. “They (Centre) cannot decide the name (of TMC 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,” Mamata said, adding that “If they request me to send someone’s name, we will decide it and tell them”.

– With inputs from Asad Rehman