It seems that the ongoing political tussle between the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is going to intensify in future with senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel saying on Sunday said the grand old party would follow in Punjab's footsteps and may bring a resolution against the new legislation in Congress-ruled states.
"After Punjab, we are thinking about bringing a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh. It would be a clear message to the central government to reconsider the Act," Patel said.
He remarked that though the CAA has been passed by the Parliament, respective states have the right to disagree with the Centre and the Centre cannot force any state to implement the "unconstitutional" law until the issue is resolved in the Supreme Court (SC).
It is learned that Congress-ruled Rajasthan has will bring in a resolution against the implementation of the CAA in the assembly on January 24. State government sources said that the resolution would be passed in the Assembly on the first day of the budget session.
Patel's statement came just a day after his party colleague and former Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal said that a state cannot deny the implementation of the CAA when it is already passed by Parliament. Sibal, however, also said that state assembly has the constitutional right to pass a resolution and ask the Centre to withdraw the CAA. Sibal noted that but if the SC passes a verdict declaring the CAA as constitutional then it will become problematic for the state to oppose its implementation.
Earlier in January, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had demanded that the BJP-led government at the Centre should withdraw the CAA. The CWC meeting headed by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi had also accused the BJP of using its brute majority to impose a "divisive and discriminatory" agenda.
