'Absolute Lie': Cong slams Rijiju's govt 'did not ask for names for delegations' remark
New Delhi, May 19 (PTI): The Congress on Monday dismissed as an "absolute lie" Union Minister Kiren Rijiju's reported assertion that that the government did not ask for names for the all-party diplomatic delegations going abroad, and said it was "cheap politics" to not get the names it selected cleared with the opposition party.
Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the same PM who had abused the Congress publicly in countries such as Australia, the US, Qatar, South Korea and China, is taking the help of the opposition party in these delegations.
"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," Ramesh told PTI here.
On Saturday, the Congress said 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.
Asked about Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju's reported remarks that the government never asked the Congress to give names, Ramesh said, "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."
"At no point of time, the Modi government did the Congress the courtesy of saying that, 'look these are the four names we have selected', what do you have to say about them'," the Congress leader said.
Ramesh accused the BJP and the prime minister of having played "cheap politics" on the issue.
"His (Modi's) image has taken a beating, he is desperate in changing the narrative once again. Our damand is that a Prime Minister-chaired all-party meeting be held and a special session be called to reiterate the resolution of February 1994 and give it fresh meaning, as well as take the nation into confidence," Ramesh said.
He claimed that while India made gains through 'Operation Sindoor', diplomatically it had been hurt as the narrative had changed.
"We have to change the momentum for India. The Congress has always said unity and solidarity is very important. 'Ek desh, Ek sandesh' is very important to deal with terrorism," he said.
Taking a swipe at the BJP, he said, however, it is not "Ek desh, Ek sandesh' for "polarisation and the poison-filled nationalism that the BJP propagates".
On Rijiju's reported remarks that the government did not go by the Congress' internal dynamics in picking members for the delegations, Ramesh said, "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 BJP and P V Narasimha Rao was the PM, so they talked to each other."
Accusing the BJP of spreading hate and bigotry, Ramesh said, "We cannot have one narrative outside and another inside. What is the narrative going out of India? -- Nationalism based on prejudice, nationalism based on bigotry and nationalism based on hate, poison and communal tensions. Is this the message we want to sent to the world?"
On the TMC's criticism of the selection of MPs by the government for the delegations to be sent abroad, Ramesh said he would not comment on other parties but the Congress' intention was to participate in these delegations.
"Out of the four names we had suggested, the government selected only one, a Congress leader who has had extensive experience in foreign affairs and then they added four other names which they had not cleared with the Congress party. That was unfair on the part of the BJP and was cheap politics," Ramesh said.
"They should have cleared the names with the Congress," he said.
The four leaders selected by the government are all experienced and one of them is a former external affairs minister, and they are very articulate and they are participating in the delegations.
"These are a damage control delegations. After 2008 delegations were sent abroad but at that time, everybody had condemned Pakistan's cross border terrorism but today we are back to being hyphenated with Pakistan...The whole narrative has changed. The vishwaguru image has taken a huge beating," he said.
Accusing the government of politicisation of Operation Sindoor, Ramesh pointed to the meeting of only NDA chief ministers has been called.
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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Cong performed better in Kerala, anti-incumbency trends influenced WB, TN: CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said the Congress had largely met or exceeded expectations in several States, even as results in some regions reflected shifting voter sentiments.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said the party accepted the mandate in Assam while performing better than anticipated in Kerala.
He also pointed to possible anti-incumbency trends influencing outcomes in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
“In Assam, we got the expected result, and we accept the people’s mandate. In Kerala, we have won more seats than expected. We anticipated around 76 to 80, but we have gone up to around 95,” Siddaramaiah said.
In West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, there may have been an anti-incumbency trend, and that could have influenced the results, he added.
Siddaramaiah also extended his congratulations to a new political entrant in Tamil Nadu, noting the emergence of a different electoral dynamic in the State.
“I congratulate the new entrant who has achieved success there,” he added.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said electoral outcomes in some States had diverged from the party’s internal assessments, reflecting evolving voter expectations.
“We expected a certain trend, but the results have been different. Political reading was wrong in some places,” he said.
“People were looking for change in some States, and that has been reflected in the results,” Shivakumar, who is also the Congress Karnataka unit president, said.
Referring to Kerala, he said the Congress-led alliance had benefited from public sentiment.
“There was already an expectation based on local body elections, and people had shown confidence in us. That has translated into a strong result,” the Deputy Chief Minister said.
On Tamil Nadu, he acknowledged that the scale of political shift had come as a surprise.
“We expected to secure around 30 to 40 per cent of the vote share, but such a major shift was not anticipated. It shows that voter expectations were different,” he said.
Shivakumar added that electoral outcomes underscored the need for better political assessment in future.
“We have to understand these changes carefully. Political reading cannot go wrong like this,” he said.
