Delegations of MPs being sent by PM to avoid tough questions, says Congress' Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi suddenly thought of sending multi-party delegations of MPs to visit different countries to divert attention from the tough questions he is being called to answer, while his image globally has been "shattered".

The Congress general secretary made the remarks in a post to pay tribute to former Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary.

Since the 1950s, MPs from various political parties have been sent in delegations to the UN in New York every October-November and PM Modi stopped this tradition from 2014, Ramesh said.

"But now that he is desperate and his image globally has been shattered, he suddenly thought of such all-party delegations of MPs to visit different countries to divert attention from the tough questions he is being called to answer," the Congress leader said.

On the 34th death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, Ramesh said, "The essential humanity, goodness, and decency of the man--qualities absent in Mr. Modi---come out poignantly in this story narrated by none other than his political adversary Atal Bihari Vajpayee." He shared a video of Vajpayee talking about how Rajiv Gandhi got him included in a delegation to the UN so that his medical treatment could be done abroad and the expenses of that are taken care of.

On Saturday, the Congress said it was asked by the government to submit the names of four leaders for the multi-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 sent by the Congress have been included in the delegations.

The Congress on Monday had taken a swipe at Prime Minister Modi with Ramesh saying the same prime minister who had abused the Congress publicly in countries such as Australia, the US, South Korea and China, was taking the help of the opposition party in these delegations.