Kolkata, May 19 (IANS) Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Monday spoke out on his party’s decision to withdraw the name of cricketer-turned-politician Yusuf Pathan from the multi-party MPs delegations on Operation Sindoor, making it clear that his party does not support the Union government’s stand in selecting the Baharampur MP without consultation with the party’s top leadership.

“We have made it clear that we are endorsing all steps taken by the Union government to combat terrorism, safeguarding the country’s sovereignty, and protecting the national interest. I am reiterating that. But one thing has to be kept in mind. If any delegation is going, which I think should go, my party can only decide who to assign for the delegation on behalf of the party. The Union government cannot unilaterally decide who will represent which party. The BJP can decide who would represent it. But the BJP cannot decide the representatives from the other parties,” Banerjee told media persons before leaving for Delhi.

He also said that the Union government should show the intent of seriously involving other parties in the process. “The Union government should have discussed the leadership of other parties on the selection of representatives from those parties. The Union government cannot decide who will represent Trinamool Congress in the multi-party delegation. This does not mean that the Trinamool Congress is boycotting the initiative of the Union government on this count,” he said.

Commenting on the “untainted” or “genuine” teachers losing jobs following a Supreme Court order last month conducting a sit-in demonstration in Front of Bikash Bhavan, the West Bengal Education Department headquarters, he said that although he has full respect towards any kind of democratic movement, he cannot support vandalism in the name of movement.

“Vandalism of public property in the name of the movement is not acceptable,” Banerjee said.

He also said that the organisational reshuffle in Trinamool Congress, which was announced on Saturday, was done based on performance, and there is no question of curtailing the powers of some leaders through this exercise.

Following the reshuffle, it was decided that henceforth organisational matters for two out of 35 organisational districts of the party will be handled by a core committee of multiple members instead of individual organisational district presidents.

–IANS

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