Amid speculations over a split between the alliance partners Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, AGP President Atul Bora made it clear that they would pull out of the alliance only if the BJP-led central government passes the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
Speaking to this correspondent over the phone, the AGP president, who is also Assam’s agriculture minister,said: “We’ll break the alliance only if the government passes the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.”
He added that they are strongly against the government’s move to ratify the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
The Bill, first introduced in the lower house of the parliament in 2016, amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsee and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship.
The AGP is a junior alliance partner of the BJP in Assam with 14 seats out of an overall 126 in the Legislative Assembly.
