Kolkata, May 19 (UNI) A day after the TMC withdrew its MP Yusuf Pathan from the Centre's 'Operation Sindoor' global outreach programme, party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday said it has not boycotted the drive, but "it is not acceptable naming a party MP unilaterally without consultation."
"How could the Centre unilaterally decide on the representative of the Trinamool Congress in the delegation without discussing the matter with the party," questioned Abhishekh Banerjee at the Dum Dum airport before leaving for New Delhi.
He said the BJP-led Centre should have held discussions with the Opposition to decide which representative a party would send. "How can the BJP decide which representative Trinamool will send," asked the TMC leader.
"We have been with the Centre all the time over the Pahalgam attacks and supporting the government action under Operation Sindoor. But the government should have consulted the Opposition to name the delegate members for India's outreach plan," Banerjee said.
" If necessary, we can depute 5 MPs to represent the country in various nations to expose Pakistan's terrorism activity and we are not boycotting the drive, but we have the right to name our member to be there," said the 38-year old TMC leader.
It means former cricketer-turned-politician Yusuf Pathan, an MP representing Baharampur in Murshidabad, will not join the Centre's 'Operation Sindoor' outreach programme, aimed at highlighting how Pakistan has been sheltering terrorists.
Pathan was named by the Indian government in an all-party parliamentary delegation which will visit 30 countries.
The multi-party delegation, consisting of seven groups led by one MP each, has been initiated to counter global misinformation and highlight India's zero-tolerance policy on terrorism.
The delegations are scheduled to visit a range of countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Algeria, the UK, France, Germany, the EU, Italy, Denmark, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, the UAE, Liberia, Congo, Sierra Leone, the USA, Panama, Guyana, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Latvia, Russia, Egypt, Qatar, Ethiopia, and South Africa.
"The TMC believes that the nation is above all and we pledged our support to the Union government to take whatever action was needed to protect our great country. Our armed forces have made our nation proud and we are forever indebted to them. Foreign policy lies entirely within the domain of the Union government. Therefore, let only the Union government decide our foreign policy and take complete responsibility for it," a declared statement of the ruling party in West Bengal.
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