New DelhiJul 28, 2025 13:54 IST
First published on: Jul 28, 2025 at 13:54 IST
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The Congress has left out its leaders who were part of multi-party delegations that travelled to various countries in the wake of Operation Sindoor from its list of speakers for the debate on it in Parliament, which began Monday.
“The delegations represented India abroad and spoke in favour of the government. Now, it is time to voice the concerns of the Opposition and people of India, and hence, the party has picked new people to speak in the House,” a Congress MP said.
Among the leaders who were part of the delegations are former Union ministers Salman Khurshid and Anand Sharma, who are currently not MPs. However, MPs like Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Amar Singh were also not picked by the Congress to speak in the debate.
Both Houses of Parliament have dedicated 16 hours each to hold discussions on Operation Sindoor, the Pahalgam attack and US President Donald Trump’s claims of mediating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, among other issues. The Lok Sabha will take up the issue on Monday while the Upper House is likely to take it up on Tuesday.
The Congress had been at loggerheads with the Centre over the constitution of the delegation, with the party accusing the government of indulging in “cheap politics” by not picking its choices like deputy floor leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi and Punjab MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.
The party was particularly upset over the Centre choosing Tharoor, a former diplomat who heads the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, to be a member of one of the delegations, as it followed several issues on which the Congress MP was at odds with his party.
The MPs chosen by the Congress to speak in the House are not very prominent but represent most of the geographical regions of the country — being elected from Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Haryana, Odisha, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. “Representatives of those states affected by the conflict have been picked,” a Congress MP said.
Gogoi would open the debate in the Lok Sabha from the Opposition’s side while other Congress speakers include Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (Wayanad), Deepender Singh Hooda (Rohtak), Praniti Shinde (Solapur ), Saptagiri Ulaka (Koraput) and Brijendra Singh Ola (Jhunjhunu).
On Tuesday, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Warring (Ludhiana), Lok Sabha Whip Manickam Tagore (Virudhanagar) and Shafi Parambil (Vadakara) will speak, the sources said.
Other Opposition parties like the TMC, DMK, Samajwadi Party, NCP (SP) have also sent their picks to the government. While the TMC will be represented by MPs Kalyan Banerjee and Sayoni Ghosh, Ramashankar Rajbhar and Chhotelal will be the SP’s speakers. The DMK will be represented by A Raja and K Kanimozhi while Supriya Sule and Amar Kale will be the NCP (SP)’s speakers.