Modi govt should take responsibility for foreign policy, neither Yusuf Pathan nor any other MP to join delegations: TMC

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress on Sunday conveyed to the Modi government that neither Yusuf Pathan nor any other MP will be part of any multi-party delegations visiting various countries to campaign against Pakistan's cross-border terrorism, sources said.

The Mamata Banerjee-led party was not in agreement with the government's move to choose an MP on its own without consulting its leadership and decided not to be part of the post-Pahalgam global reach out exercise, sources said.

Neither Pathan, the cricketer-turned-MP, or any other lawmaker from the Trinamool will be part of it, they said.

“We believe 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 is entirely within the domain of the Union government. Therefore, let only the Union government decide our foreign policy and take complete responsibility for it,” the party said.

In Kolkata, party General Secretary and senior MP Abhishek Banerjee said, Trinamool is not boycotting the delegation and it is the only party which has not politicised the matter of national security.

"How can the Union Government decide on the representative of Trinamool? They should have held discussions with the opposition to decide which representative a party will send. How can the BJP decide which representative Trinamool will send?" he said.

After its Lok Sabha floor leader Sudip Bandhyopadhyay expressed his inability to join a delegation owing to ill health, the government had chosen the Murshidabad MP to be part of the delegation. Trinamool said they were not consulted by the government.

Pathan was asked to join the delegation led by JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha, which is scheduled to visit Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore. The nine member team, including Salman Khurshid, John Brittas and Brij Lal, were to leave on May 21 for Japan.

Sources said Trinamool is also of the view that the Modi government has embarked on this exercise as a diversionary tactic.

Earlier, the Congress has also raised a hue and cry over the government rejecting three of the four names it recommended and including four other leaders, who were chosen by the dispensation.

The Congress had then accused the government of being "dishonest" and "playing games". It also said it appeared that the government had decided on the names even before it consulted its leadership.

Fifty-nine people, including eight veteran diplomats, were selected to be members of the delegations visiting 32 countries and the European Union.