Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samiti working president and IT minister K.T Rama Rao on Friday reaffirmed the stand of his party on the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Talking to press reporters here in Telangana Bhavan, Mr Rama Rao said, “We supported Article 370 but not CAA because it is anti-Muslim, a stand we expressed on the floor of the House. We are extremely clear on our stand on the issue. There is no big confusion in it. Whatever we have said on the floor of the House, we stand by that. There is no change in that.”
With regard to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) he said that the party will clarify its stand after deliberations in the state cabinet.
Reacting to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi's comments that the TRS is supporting his party against CAA, Mr Rama Rao said, “He told me that we (Owaisi’s delegation) are supporting TRS’ agitation against the CAA. We have our own plan of action.”
He said that party MPs had already made it clear in Parliament during the debate on the Citizenship Amendment Bill that the TRS was opposed to the exclusion of Muslims in the CAA.
He said “The same day, we had also said, include Muslims and we will vote in favour of the Bill.”
When the government made it clear it would not concede to their demand, TRS members voted against the Bill, he added.
Mr Rama Rao said, “In this back ground I don’t think there is anything new to be said now. TRS has taken decisions on Bills in Parliament after due deliberations within the party, keeping in mind the interests of India and Telangana, and has also supported the NDA government on issues like Article 370.”
TRS parliamentary party chairman K. Kesava Rao said details of the NPR were not yet available and there were some doubts about the Centre’s announcement on it. The TRS would oppose it if the doubts turned out to be true or else go with the NPR, he said.
“NPR had come in 2010, 2003, updated in 2015. When details come in, we will give the correct answer after reading the details. Otherwise, as it is, on the face of it, we are opposed to it if our doubts are true.”
On reports that TRS could invite like-minded parties for an all-party meeting on the issue, Keshav Rao said it will be intimated if such a decision is taken.
