Congress & other parties back Centre’s global outreach after Pahalgam attack; will join inter-party delegations abroad

New Delhi: Congress and many other Opposition parties have accepted the government's proposal to send inter-party parliamentary delegations to several countries to present Indian perspective on the events following the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

The day ET reported about the government decision to reach out to the Opposition with its proposal, parliamentary affairs minister Kiran Rijiju called up Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and requested his party's participation. This, even as the government sounded out its own MPs and some former ministers and diplomats to be part of delegations.

According to sources, among the Opposition MPs and former ministers contacted by the government are Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Amar Singh, Salman Khurshid (Congress), former J&K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad (DPAP), John Brittas (CPI-M), Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM) and Priyanka Chaturvedi (UBT).


"Now suddenly, the PM has decided to send multi-party delegations abroad to explain India's stand on terrorism from Pakistan. The Indian National Congress always takes a position in the supreme national interest and never politicised national security issues like BJP does.

Hence, INC will definitely be a part of these delegations," said Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh, adding that Kharge will choose Congress' representatives.

Incidentally, the then Opposition leader AB Vajpayee led an Opposition delegation to the UN during the Narasimha Rao regime. Opposition circles say the government move came as a surprise as most MPs will have little choice other than accepting the proposal.