New Delhi:
Many felt that the political delegation to Kashmir broke a lot of ground, but now the politics behind its actions is taking centrestate. A row is brewing between the Left and the BJP over the visits to separatists.
Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said on Tuesday, "Some people wanted to go there but they did not go officially part of the delegation."
These comments have not gone down well.
Defending the move, CPM MP Sitaram Yechury said, "If the government had not organised, the trip would not have been possible."
The Left also rebutted the BJP's charge that the group of MPs who met the separatists did not go there as part of the official delegation.
"Yes we met Geelani. But it's wrong to say we did not go there as part of the delegation. We made a suggestion to the Home Minister and he agreed," CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta said.
Left leaders argue they followed the same principle followed by all parliamentary committees. Sources say here's how the meetings with the separatists were worked out:
Left leader Sitaram Yechury first mooted a proposal to meet with separatists after learning that they were boycotting the all-party delegation. On board the special aircraft, about 15 members expressed similar sentiments to reach out to the separatists.
After this, the Home Minister asked them if the MPs were serious. When they said yes, a plan was worked out.
The Centre wanted to avoid a large group of MPs rushing to the meet the separatists as it would have sent wrong political signals. So it proposed a small team of five MPs to go and meet with them.
With over 15 MPs insisting to go, meeting with separatists were about to be dropped.
Finally, a plan was chalked out whereby three groups of MPs were sent to meet Geelani, Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.
Out of the box thinking to reach out has divided our MPs but there's complete agreement on one issue - normalcy should return to the Valley.