Abhishek Banerjee to skip MEA meet; TMC slams Centre for refusing special session
Times of India | 5 June 2025
Abhishek Banerjee to skip MEA meet; TMC slams Centre for refusing special session NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said he will not be attending the external affairs ministry meeting scheduled on Thursday and will instead write to EAM Jaishankar his take on the outcome of the delegation's trip."We toured five countries in the past 15 days. On Thursday, the EAM will convene a meeting. But I will not be able to attend that. I have some pre-scheduled engagements. I was out of the country for some time. In the meantime, the bye-election for Kaliganj was announced. I have some work in my parliamentary area. I will be busy with that the next few days. I will inform the external affairs ministry about my opinion in writing. Once I inform the ministry, I will speak on that matter," Banerjee told reporters.This came on a day Trinamool MP Derek O'Brien lashed out at the Centre for "running away" from holding a special session of Parliament on Operation Sindoor. O'Brien made the remarks after it was announced that the monsoon session of Parliament would be held from July 21 to Aug 12."All important matters" can be discussed in the session, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said, adding that every Parliament session was a "special session"."Parliamentophobia (noun) - My word for the acute condition of a (Modi) govt who have a morbid fear of facing Parliament. Running away from a special session," O'Brien said in a post on X.Speaking to reporters later, he said, "TMC studied the past announcements and usually the session is announced around 19 days ahead of the date of commencement. This time they announced it 47 days ahead. So scared!"