Will Speak To PM On Citizenship Bill If NDA Voted To Power: Ramdas Athawale

Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Saturday said he will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make necessary changes in the citizenship bill if the NDA comes to power again.

Addressing a press conference in Guwahati, Mr Athawale, also the chief of the Republican Party of India (A), acknowledged the strong sentiment against the contentious bill across the north east region.

"We have sympathy for the peoples'' sentiments. When Narendra Modi will become PM again, we will talk to him to see what changes can be made in the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill," he said.

The RPI(A) has fielded three candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Assam. It has given tickets to Mehbubar Rahman in Dhubri, Rejaul Karim in Barpeta and Sadek Ali in Gauhati constituencies.

"We have opened our party units in all the north eastern states. At this moment, we are new here. But, I can tell that we will be a strong force in the years to come," Mr Athawale said.

Criticising the ''mahagathbandhan'' as a force without any leader or prime ministerial face, the NDA ally claimed that the BJP-led alliance will bag over 350 seats in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections across the country.

Mr Athawale also slammed the opposition for seeking proof of the Balakot air strikes and said that Kashmir is an integral part of India.

"Pakistan has no control over Kashmir. They should return the occupied Kashmir. It is not a free state. The Article 370 should be removed. Jammu and Kashmir is not developed because of this," he added.

Mr Athawale further said that his ministry will work towards completely stopping manual scavenging in the country by introducing technology-based solutions.