In knots over Tharoor row, Congress slams Modi govt for ‘diversionary tactics’

Stunned by the Centre’s decision to pick Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor over his party colleagues whose names had been suggested by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for all-party delegations scheduled to visit different countries to project India’s “resolute approach to combating terrorism”, the Congress party has tied itself in knots.

Also read: Congress' harakiri over Centre picking Tharoor for delegations abroad

The delegations, as per a government press release issued at 9.19 am, will be headed by Tharoor, BJP MPs Ravi Shankar Prasad and Baijayant Panda, JDU’s Sanjay Kumar Jha, DMK’s K Kanimozhi, NCP-SP’s Supriya Sule and Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Eknath Shinde.

Bad optics for Cong

An hour later, Congress’s communications department chief Jairam Ramesh posted on X that Rahul had on Friday informed Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju that the Congress had picked former Union minister Anand Sharma and party MPs Gaurav Gogoi, Amarinder Singh Raja Brar and Syed Naseer Hussain as its nominees for these delegations. Tharoor’s name, it was clear, had not been proposed by the Congress despite the Thiruvananthapuram MP’s past innings as an accomplished career diplomat.

The Congress’ decision to not nominate Tharoor for the all-party delegations instantly made for bad optics for the party. Politicians of the ruling coalition as well as political commentators and ordinary citizens accused the Congress high command of prioritising internal party politics over national interest. Tharoor, it may be recalled, has lately been in the news for breaching the Congress’ official line on critical issues, including the Congress’s stand on “US interference” in forcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to accept a ceasefire with Pakistan days after the launch of Operation Sindoor.

However, while public sentiment clearly seemed to be in Tharoor’s favour on the government choosing him to lead one of seven the all-party delegations set to tentatively leave for their respective destinations on May 23-24, Ramesh pressed on with chiding the Centre for its choice.

Centre playing politics?

Accusing the Centre of playing politics on a “serious and sensitive matter”, Ramesh told reporters that his party was “surprised over the names (of Congress leaders) included in the delegation” as these had “had not been recommended by us”. Drawing on a cricket analogy, Ramesh said, “The Congress is playing by the rules but the other party (the BJP) is targeting bodyline.”

Also read: Growing rift? Tharoor not on the list Congress gave for delegation abroad

The Congress communications chief dismissed speculation that Rahul had not recommended Tharoor’s name because the party was unhappy with the Thiruvananthapuram MP for publicly going against the ‘official party line’ on several issues amid rumours that he was exploring a political future outside the Grand Old Party ahead of next year’s Kerala Assembly polls. The Congress, Ramesh said, gave the names to the Centre “with sincere intention and not with any malicious mindset” but added that it is “highly probable” that the BJP had “already decided the names for the delegation” before reaching out to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and LoP Rahul Gandhi to nominate leaders “merely as a formality”.

Diversionary tactics

Claiming that the decision to send all-party delegations abroad to present India’s case against terrorism was an “afterthought” of the Modi regime, Ramesh said the move was aimed at diverting public attention from serious questions being raised by the Opposition on Trump’s self-proclaimed role in mediating the Indo-Pak ceasefire using the “threat of stopping trade to India (if she didn’t accept a ceasefire)”. The decision to send all-party MPs to different countries, Ramesh said, was a “diversionary tactic” and a case of “sheer opportunism as the government had lost the narrative”.

The prime minister, Ramesh said, was yet to break his silence on “what the US President has been saying repeatedly... Trump mentioned it seventh time last evening that he had mediated the ceasefire between India and Pakistan,” and wondered if “Operation Sindoor was stopped for trade”.

All-party meeting

Ramesh reiterated the party’s demand for an all-party meeting chaired by the prime minister followed by a special session of Parliament to discuss all issues linked with the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor and subsequent developments leading up to US president Donald Trump’s announcement of India and Pakistan agreeing to a “full and immediate ceasefire” as well as the massive financial aid sanctioned by the IMF to Pakistan while cross-border tensions were still escalating.

Ramesh said a special session of Parliament was also needed for “the country to reaffirm and reiterate the February 22, 1994, unanimous resolution of Parliament seeking to get Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) back” into Indian territory.

The Congress also maintained its stand that the prime minister, who is scheduled to meet chief ministers of the NDA-ruled states on May 25, should “call all chief ministers from across the country” if he intends to take everyone into confidence to build political consensus and not to politicise Operation Sindoor.

Needless spectacle

What the party has been unable to explain, however, is why it did not push the government to defer sending the all-party delegations till Modi agreed to the Opposition’s demands for an all-party meeting chaired by the PM and convening of a special session of Parliament.

Also read: Honoured to lead all-party teams abroad on terrorism, says Tharoor

A sizeable section of Congress insiders too have scoffed over Ramesh making a “needless public spectacle” on why the government picked Tharoor over the party leaders that Rahul had chosen.

“What has the Congress gained by this public expression of no confidence by our chief of communications against one of our most erudite voices in the sphere of diplomacy? Ramesh should have simply kept quiet or said that while the Congress welcomes the Centre’s move, which is inspired by the previous Congress regimes (Narasimha Rao in 1994 and Manmohan Singh in 2008), it would serve the country better if these delegations were sent after the prime minister took political leaders across the spectrum into confidence and sought their views on what India should convey to the world when these delegation interact with their foreign counterparts,” a senior Congress Working Committee (CWC) member told The Federal.