Pathan was part of the delegation led by JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha, which is scheduled to visit Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore. The team will be briefed by the Foreign Secretary on May 20 and will depart on May 21.According to sources, the government chose Pathan after Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandhyopadhyay opted out, citing health reasons.Reiterating the party’s support for the government in combating Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, Banerjee said that the Modi government must show good intent and consult other parties before deciding on the representatives.“The BJP government is at the helm of affairs. They can decide for their party, but not for Congress or AAP…”Banerjee added that Trinamool is the only party that has not politicised the matter of national security, and his party is not boycotting the delegation.Reaffirming her party’s support for the Union government on matters of external affairs, Mamata Banerjee said her party was not boycotting the Centre’s multi-party diplomatic mission aimed at countering Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and would send its representatives once a formal request is received from the Centre.She stressed that the Centre should not decide which party sends whom as part of the delegation.”We were not contacted about this. Nowadays, they only inform the parliamentary party, not the main outfit. The parliamentary party cannot take policy decisions,” the West Bengal Chief Minister said.”No request to send a representative’s name for the outreach programme came to us. If it had, then of course we could have considered it. We are totally in favour of the country on matters of external affairs.Naming representatives for diplomatic multi-party delegations to counter Pak-backed terrorism is the choice of parties, not of the Centre,” Banerjee said.
Source link
