CPC delegation meets Khurshid; Cong says meeting at visiting delegation's request, following govt approval

New Delhi, Jan 13 (PTI) A Communist Party of China (CPC) delegation met the Congress's foreign affairs department head, Salman Khurshid, here on Tuesday, with the opposition party asserting that the meeting took place at the request of the visiting delegation and with the government's approval.

The meeting came a day after the delegation of the CPC, led by its international department's vice minister Sun Haiyan, visited the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters here and met leaders of the ruling party.

"The CPC delegation had requested for a meeting, the request was approved by the government of India and that is why our foreign affairs department chief, Salman Khurshid, met them," Congress leader Pawan Khera told a press conference here when asked about the meeting with Khurshid, who is a former external affairs minister.

Khera slammed the BJP-RSS over their meetings with the Chinese delegation and said the issue is whether the ruling party and its ecosystem raised critical questions related to India's national interests when they met the delegation members behind closed doors.

"The fact of the matter is that the ruling party is the BJP and there is another unregistered organisation which controls the ruling party called the RSS. The meeting is not a problem, when they (the BJP) were in the opposition, we did not stop them from meeting. The problem is, who is compromising the interest of India? The opposition cannot, the ruling party can and we have given you evidence of that," he said.

"You will not be able to give a single piece of evidence where India's interests were served -- whether it is fertilisers, rare earths, status quo ante of 2020.... Give me one example where India stands to gain out of this foreign policy," the Congress leader said, hitting out at the Narendra Modi government.

Hiding behind meetings is a short cut to avoiding the critical questions that "we are asking", he claimed.

"We have no problems that you meet because political parties from different countries meet, you have made this into an issue. The issue is that do you raise critical questions when you meet behind closed doors?" Khera asked.

Asked whether Khurshid, during his meeting with the delegation from the neighbouring country, raised issues of national interest, including Chinese transgressions, Khera said, "We will give an answer at the right time. Such delegations do not talk about things of much importance with the opposition." "Visiting dignitaries have important discussions with the ruling party. The issue is, did the ruling party or the RSS raise issues of India's interests during the meeting," he added. PTI ASK RC