Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said it was her party’s prerogative, and not the Centre’s, to select the Trinamool nominees for the all-party delegations that will visit foreign capitals as part of a diplomatic outreach in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor.

Mamata made it clear that Trinamool was not boycotting the initiative and that it was fully behind the central government on matters of national security.

She was answering a question about Behrampore MP Yusuf Pathan opting out of the delegation that is to visit Southeast and East Asia.

Trinamool’s firm stand about who has the right to pick a party’s nominees contrasts with that of some of the other Opposition parties.

While parties like the Congress, Shiv Sena-UBT and the CPM have objected to the way the BJP-led Centre unilaterally endorsed or rejected the Opposition parties’ nominees — or picked them without their own parties’ consent — they have all chosen to play along.

So far, Trinamool has been the lone party among those that had contested last year’s general election as part of the INDIA bloc to withdraw from the exercise in protest at the Centre’s unilateral approach.

Mamata’s comments came after nephew and heir apparent Abhishek Banerjee had underscored that the BJP could not decide who would represent Trinamool on a mission like this.

The BJP has alleged that several senior Trinamool leaders have been secretly in touch with the Centre, hoping for a berth in one of the foreign-bound delegations.

Sources said that Trinamool’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, had been approached personally to be part of one of the delegations but he had declined on health grounds. After this, the government announced Pathan’s name, leaving his party in the dark.

When the Centre asked Pathan for his passport details and other documents for the trip, the 42-year-old was preparing to oblige. But on Sunday night, a senior colleague advised him not to do so, and Mamata was consulted. Pathan later pulled out.

On her way to north Bengal, Mamata told journalists at Calcutta airport on Monday that the BJP needed to inform the parent party and not communicate with the parliamentary party (read the individual MPs) alone.

“The parliamentary party... they cannot make policy decisions. No requests came to us (the parent party). If it does, of course, we could consider it,” she said.

“If anything is special, we will think about it, but not right now. Now, we are supporting the central government’s views and actions.”

The chief minister added: “But they cannot decide the member’s name on their own…. If they request me to send someone, we will decide the name and will tell them. It’s wrong to say that we are boycotting or not going… we will definitely send a representative if they inform us. Why wouldn’t we?”

Earlier in the day, Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek had said the party had no problems with the decision to send the delegations, but the choice of its representatives could not be the BJP’s.

“The BJP cannot decide the representatives that the Congress, Trinamool, DMK, AAP or the Samajwadi Party will send,” the Diamond Harbour MP said while on his way to Delhi for a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs.

Abhishek said the party was willing to offer five representatives towards the delegations, if asked. “This should not be presented in a way that Trinamool boycotted Operation Sindoor…. I am putting this on record. Trinamool is the only party that didn’t politicise
the matter.”

The BJP responded by saying the Centre had the “rightful authority” to pick the delegates, and that this was “both constitutional
and pragmatic”.

“…This delegation was constituted by the Government of India, and it is the government’s rightful authority to decide who will be part of it. This is not a political tour, but a state-led initiative,” state BJP chief Sukanta
Majumdar said.

“…What is more disappointing is that the influence of certain senior TMC leaders — likely those excluded from the delegation — played a role in this decision. Ironically, we now see other senior MPs from the same party expressing interest in joining
the delegation.”

The delegation led by the JDU’s Sanjay Jha, of which Pathan was to be a member, also has Congress veteran and former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid. But he has not been asked to head the team despite his vast experience in external affairs.

Khurshid and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor — a former UN diplomat -- were picked by the Centre despite the Congress not nominating them. While Khurshid left the decision to his party, Tharoor angered the Congress by accepting the offer on his own. He has been chosen to head the team going to the US, Brazil, Panama, Guyana
and Colombia.

The Centre had requested the Congress to nominate four MPs for the delegations and the party had obliged. But the Centre snubbed it by rejecting all four of its nominees and approaching Tharoor and Khurshid, instead.

DA ruling

Mamata declined to comment on the Supreme Court order asking the state government to clear 25 per cent of its employees’ dearness allowance arrears within three months.

“I will not issue any comment on a matter that is sub judice. We will act legally in the matter,” she said.