No parliamentary delegation to participate in UN proceedings

New Delhi: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's star performance at the United Nations General Assembly, government has decided not to send any parliamentary delegation to participate in the proceedings of the world body this year, official sources said on Friday.

As per practice, governments sends a select number of MPs of various parties as delegates to the United Nations after the Prime Minister wraps up his interactions and meetings at the UN General Assembly. They participate in different UN conventions on a wide range of subjects.

This year after the Assembly, the general debate was to be held till October 7, which was to be followed by the sessions of six main committees and other plenary bodies where the MPs would have participated.

However, the government has decided at the last moment to scrap the entire visit by the parliamentarians, the government sources said while refusing to provide any reasons for such a decision.

The parliamentarians had also been intimated about the plans for their visit to New York, the sources said. Earlier, it was decided to send three separate batches of a total of about 30 MPs as the country's non-official delegation from October 6, with the last batch scheduled to return on November 14.

The MPs who were supposed to have been part of this delegation are understood to be belonging to parties like the BJP, Congress, Trinamool Congress, JD(U) and TDP.

The list of MPs is prepared on the basis of the strength of parties in the two Houses of Parliament, though the final list depends on the discretion of the highest authority depending on their ability to represent India at the top international forum.