Today in Politics: As govt announces members of all-party delegations on Op Sindoor, what next for Congress?

The Congress, however, is staring at one more crisis within as the already frayed intra-party equations came to the fore after the government announced the names of leaders who will head all-party delegations.

Early on Saturday, soon after the government announced delegation heads, the Congress, curiously, made it known that the party had suggested other names to the government. These include: former Union Minister Anand Sharma; the party’s Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi; and MPs Syed Naseer Hussain and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.

Significantly, Tharoor’s name did not figure in the list suggested by the Congress – and neither were those of Lok Sabha MPs Manish Tiwari and Amar Singh, and former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, all of whom are members of the delegations. A section of the Congress leadership had seen Tharoor’s public remarks on Pahalgam and Operation Sindoor as “supporting the government.”

With many of the Opposition MPs indicating they will accept the invitation to these delegations, the Congress is in a difficult spot having already criticised the process behind the formation of the delegations.

On Friday, the Congress had criticised the government for not convening an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament, though it said it would “definitely be part” of the delegations as it “always takes a position in the supreme national interest and never politicises national security issues like the BJP does.” It remains to be seen how the party reacts to the full lists of the delegations’ members.

Meanwhile, in West Bengal, amid nationwide programmes of several parties to mark the success of Operation Sindoor, the Trinamool Congress is holding rallies across the state to honour the Armed Forces on Sunday.

Amit Shah in Gujarat

On Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will address a conference organised by the Gujarat State Co-operative Union at Science City in Ahmedabad.

Shah will also inaugurate a nursing college and a potato processing plant in the Mehsana district. Later in the day, he will inaugurate an overbridge in Ahmedabad, where he will also lay the foundation stone for various projects of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.

– With PTI inputs