INDIA bloc, when it comes to power, will scrap CAA in first Parliament session, P Chidambaram says

INDIA bloc, when it comes to power, will scrap CAA in first Parliament session, P Chidambaram says

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday claimed that when the INDIA bloc is voted to power in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, it would scrap the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the first session of Parliament.

Chidambaram said that the CAA, which has become one of the major flashpoints between the ruling BJP and the INDIA bloc leaders, will be repealed even though it has no mention in the Congress manifesto.

The former Union minister was reacting to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s criticism over Congress skipping the mention of the controversial Act in its manifesto, which the party has named ‘Nyay Patra’.

Chidambaram claimed Congress did not mention it in the manifesto “because it became too long”.

He said that the last one-decade rule of the BJP has caused tremendous damage to the country as it misused the ‘brute majority’ in Parliament.

“There is a long list of laws among which five laws will be absolutely repealed. Take it from me, I am the chairman of the manifesto committee. I wrote every word of it, I know what the intention was. The CAA will be repealed, not amended. We have made it clear,” Chidambaram said.

“The CAA will be repealed in the first session of Parliament in which the INDIA Bloc forms the government”, he added.

Dismissing the claims of Vijayan that the Congress has not opposed the Law, Chidambaram said Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has spoken against the CAA in Parliament.

The Congress leader also criticised Vijayan, who has been vocal these days against the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, and asked the Left leader to look at this election as a national election, which it is.

He alleged that its ally in the INDIA Bloc, the CPI(M) was fighting this election in Kerala as if it is a state election.

“And from a national point of view, who is better placed to fight the BJP and form a government in Delhi. Who is better placed to fight the BJP across India? It is obviously the Congress and not the CPI(M). CPI(M) is literally a single state party now,” Chidambaram said.

Polling will be held on April 26 in Kerala for the Lok Sabha election, and the nationwide results will be declared on June 4.

(With PTI inputs)

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