Will side with Assam against Bill: Thackeray

GUWAHATI, June 16: Shiv Sena leader Uddhab Thackeray has assured the AGP that the 21 MPs of his party are gng to side with Assam in Parliament and oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

Thackeray gaveoi such an assurance to the AGP on Saturday when a team of the regional party from Assam led by its president and minister Atul Bora met him in his Mumbai residence and sought help in opposing the anti-national Bill in Parliament. The AGP team had ministers Keshab Mahnata and Phani Bhushan Choudhury in it, besides a few senior leaders of the party. The AGP leaders invited the Shiv Sena leader to pay a visit to Assam. Thackeray accepted the invitation.

The AGP has been agitating and mobilizing support against the anti-national Bill at various levels in Assam and outside it. The regional party met Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the Bill. It also met Union Minister Rajnath Singh and Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) twice each and opposed the Bill. Besides raising the issue of the Bill in front of BJP’s national president Amit Shah at the last NEDA conclave held in Guwahati, the regional party also raised the Bill at the last Cabinet meeting at Dispur. It has also sought the intervention from the President of India for the withdrawal of the Bill.