Anti-terror delegation row: Govt says didn't ask for names, Congress takes ‘cheap politics’ jibe

THe united states congress on mon dismissed unification government minister Kiren Rijiju’s lay claim that the centre did not ask for names for the all-party diplomatic delegations to put India's points in front of partner countries on Operation Sindoor, calling it an ‘absolute lie’.Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said it was "cheap politics" not to get the names the government selected cleared with the opposition party. He also took a shot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of abusing the Congress on foreign soil and then taking the party’s help to put points across to the same nations."Why didn't the prime minister pick up the phone and speak to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi? Why didn't he have the courtesy to do that? The fact is that our narrative has been punctured and continues to get punctured because of the politics of polarisation in the country," Jairam Ramesh told news agency PTI.Asked about parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju's reported remarks that the government never asked the Congress to give names, Ramesh said it was an ‘absolute lie’."That is a lie -- LIE -- absolute lie. He had a conversation in the morning of May 16 with the Congress president and Mr Rahul Gandhi, and in pursuance of that conversation, the latter wrote to Mr Rijiju suggesting four names,” Ramesh said on the matter.The war of words on the delegationsThe Congress had said on Saturday that it was asked by the government to submit the names of four leaders for the all-party delegations to be sent abroad to explain India's stance on Pakistan-backed terrorism. It nominated Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain, and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.Of the four, only Sharma has been included in the seven delegations that will be visiting various countries.Four Congress leaders -- Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Amar Singh, and Salman Khurshid -- who were not part of the list forwarded by the Congress have been included in the delegations by the government.Union minister Kiren Rijiju reportedly remarked on the issue, saying that the government did not go by the Congress's internal dynamics in picking members for the delegations.Jairam Ramesh replied to those remarks on Monday, pointing out that the UPA government had consulted all political parties after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008."No question of internal dynamics. In 2008, Dr Manmohan Singh and his advisors consulted all political parties; that is how the delegations were sent. In the case of Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the 1990s, he was the leader of the BJP, and P V Narasimha Rao was the PM, so they talked to each other," Ramesh told PTI.The seven delegations led by Baijayant Panda, Ravi Shankar Prasad (both BJP), Sanjay Kumar Jha (JDU), Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena), Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Kanimozhi (DMK), and Supriya Sule (NCP-SP) will visit a total of 32 countries and the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Each delegation comprises seven or eight political leaders and is assisted by former diplomats.