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Cong. pulls out of delegations
By Javed M. Ansari
NEW DELHI JAN. 10. Upset over the unilateral announcement of the composition of diplomatic delegations being sent abroad to explain India's case, vis-a-vis, crossborder terrorism, the Congress has decided to pull out.
The party is unhappy that the Government chose to ignore it while deciding on both the composition, as well as destination of the delegations. What it finds ``absolutely unacceptable'' is the fact that it learnt about its members' inclusion in the delegations through the BJP spokesperson, Vijay Kumar Malhotra. ``How can the BJP decide on who the Congress nominees will be and where they will go,'' asked Natwar Singh, head of the AICC's Foreign Affair's department.
Congress leaders said it was agreed upon only in principle at the all party meeting on December 30 that delegations comprising members of all parties be sent abroad. However, they expected the Government to formally consult them, both on the names of the Congress members as well as the destination of the delegations.
Manmohan singh, who attended the all party meeting at the Prime Minister's residence, told The Hindu that he had made it clear to the Ministers,
Jaswant Singh and Pramod Mahajan, that they must get the names of the Congress members cleared by the party leadership.
According to Dr. Singh, he had made these things clear
to both the Ministers, when he was formally sounded out by Mr. Jaswant Singh about leading one of the delegations.
Having learnt from the media about his appointment, an angry Dr. Singh today issued a statement taking the Government to task for ignoring his party leadership. ``The least that was expected was consultations and dialogue with the Congress leadership, about the composition of the delegations and the places to be visited,'' he said. This showed that the BJP was not ``serious about sustaining the national consensus on crucial issues.''
Besides Dr. Singh, Najma Heptulla, Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, and P.M. Sayeed, Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, have also been selected to lead a delegation each. While Dr. Singh is supposed to head the delegation to Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, Dr. Heptulla and Mr. Sayeed will lead the delegations to Egypt and South Africa respectively.
The door, however, does not seem to be firmly shut and there were indications that should the Government make amends, there could be a rethink on the issue. Senior party leaders point out that the problem is not so much over the leaders who have been chosen, but over the ``improper manner in which it was done.''
Senior leaders point out that it was clear that Sonia Gandhi would not be able to lead any of the delegations because of her preoccupation with the Assembly elections. What the party expected was that the Government would follow the proper procedure in going about it, by formally consulting the party leadership. ``Its now up to the Government, on important issues like this it must consult the Congress and all other Opposition parties'' said Mr. Natwar Singh.
Malhotra denies
Meanwhile, the BJP spokesperson, V.K. Malhotra, today denied having the leaders who would be travelling as a part of the delegation. ``In response to queries from the media on the subject I made it clear that the list is with the Prime Minister and he alongwith the External affairs Minister would decide on the composition.''
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