BJP highlights Cong's support to citizenship to Pak refugees to attack oppn party

Accusing the Congress of "politics of duplicity and expedience" over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the BJP on Friday cited the opposition party's 2018 Rajasthan assembly election manifesto that promised all-round development to refugees from Pakistan, including those linked to their citizenship and rehabilitation.

BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao shared the details of the Congress manifesto to hit out at the the opposition party.

"I have in my hand the manifesto of the Congress for the Rajasthan assembly elections 2018. Item number 27 of this manifesto relates to governance. They claim citizenship rights in this and there is a promise that they are lying about today.

"The Congress in its manifesto had promised all-round development of people who have been displaced from Pakistan, that means the refugees, and they promise to give them citizenship rights and rehabilitation," he told reporters.

Rao noted that Rahul Gandhi was then the Congress president.

This is the real face of the Congress as it says something when in power, and when this does not suit it, then it puts up a different face, he said, likening the party to a "multi-headed hydra" which is working against national interest by changing its position frequently.

It is adopting politics of duplicity and expedience, he said. In his previous tenure as the state's chief minister Ashok Gehlot had written to the then prime minister Manmohan Singh, seeking citizenship for Hindus and Sikhs displaced from Pakistan, Rao claimed.