The Congress has left out its leaders who were part of multi-party delegations that travelled to various countries in the wake of Operation Sindoor from its list of speakers for the debate on it in Parliament, which began Monday.
“The delegations represented India abroad and spoke in favour of the government. Now, it is time to voice the concerns of the Opposition and people of India, and hence, the party has picked new people to speak in the House,” a Congress MP said.
Among the leaders who were part of the delegations are former Union ministers Salman Khurshid and Anand Sharma, who are currently not MPs. However, MPs like Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Amar Singh were also not picked by the Congress to speak in the debate.
Sources said the Congress did approach Tharoor through the party’s floor leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi and MP Kodikunnil Suresh, but he declined and instead expressed a desire to speak on The Indian Ports Bill, 2025. “He said that participating in the debate was avoidable as he cannot deviate from the line he had taken when he travelled abroad as part of a delegation. Tharoor believes he will have to be consistent but that would perhaps be a violation of the party line. Hence, he chose silence,” a source said.
Tewari, on the other hand, wanted to speak. Sources said he had even written a letter to the party expressing his desire to participate in the discussion, but the party chose not to field him.
Both Houses of Parliament have dedicated 16 hours each to hold discussions on Operation Sindoor, the Pahalgam attack and US President Donald Trump’s claims of mediating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, among other issues. The Lok Sabha started the debate on the issue on Monday while the Upper House is expected to take it up on Tuesday.
The Congress had been at loggerheads with the Centre over the constitution of the delegations that travelled abroad after Operation Sindoor on behalf of the government, accusing it of indulging in “cheap politics” by not picking its choices like deputy floor leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi and Punjab MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.
The party was particularly upset over the Centre choosing Tharoor, a former diplomat who heads the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, to be a member of one of the delegations, as it followed several issues on which the Congress MP was at odds with his party.
Participating in the debate Monday, BJP MP Baijayant Panda raised the fact that Tharoor was not among the speakers, and claimed the Congress leadership “did not allow him to speak”. “Tharoor speaks very well but it’s a different thing that his party’s leadership doesn’t let him speak these days. However, when he was asked to speak, he spoke in the interest of the country,” he said on the floor of the House.
The MPs chosen by the Congress to speak in the House are not very prominent but represent most of the geographical regions of the country — being elected from Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Haryana, Odisha, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. “Representatives of those states affected by the conflict have been picked,” a Congress MP said.
Gogoi would open the debate in the Lok Sabha from the Opposition’s side while other Congress speakers include Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (Wayanad), Deepender Singh Hooda (Rohtak), Praniti Shinde (Solapur ), Saptagiri Ulaka (Koraput) and Brijendra Singh Ola (Jhunjhunu).
On Tuesday, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Warring (Ludhiana), Lok Sabha Whip Manickam Tagore (Virudhanagar) and Shafi Parambil (Vadakara) will speak, the sources said.
Other Opposition parties like the TMC, DMK, Samajwadi Party, NCP (SP) have also sent their picks to the government. While the TMC will be represented by MPs Kalyan Banerjee and Sayoni Ghosh, Ramashankar Rajbhar and Chhotelal will be the SP’s speakers. The DMK will be represented by A Raja and K Kanimozhi while Supriya Sule and Amar Kale will be the NCP (SP)’s speakers.
