“We will definitely send a representative if they inform us. Why wouldn’t we? There is no point of controversy here. We are fully with the government,” Mamata Banerjee said
Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has said her party will skip the all-party international delegation on Operation Sindoor, since the Centre had not consulted her party before naming three of its leaders as the country’s representatives. Ms Banerjee, however, said this is not a boycott and she would reconsider the matter if the government reaches out.
“We will definitely send a representative if they inform us. Why wouldn’t we? There is no point of controversy here. We are fully with the government,” Ms Banerjee told reporters today as she headed for the hill town of Darjeeling to escape the heat.
“We have made it clear that we are endorsing all steps taken by the Union government to combat terrorism, safeguarding the country’s sovereignty, and protecting the national interest… If any delegation is going, which I think should go, my party can only decide who to assign for the delegation. The Union government cannot unilaterally decide,” said Abhishek Banerjee, the number two in the party after Ms Banerjee.
Mr Banerjee, however, attended the foreign ministry’s briefing in Delhi for leaders who are part of the seven delegations the government is sending out. So did Trinamool’s Sagarika Ghose, who is also part of another delegation.
The matter apparently boiled over after cricketer-turned-politician Yusuf Pathan was named by the Centre, leaving aside his more senior party colleagues. He was supposed to be part of a delegation led by Janata Dal (United) MP Sanjay Jha that is set to go to Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and Singapore.
Mr Pathan opted out, leading to a BJP attack on Trinamool, accusing it of “partisan politics”.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the BJP’s BJP co-incharge for West Bengal Amit Malviya said, “It sends a subliminal message that Mamata Banerjee and her party are unwilling to speak out against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism”
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