Centre must cooperate with states: D Raja on Kerala Assembly's anti-CAA resolution

A day after the Kerala state assembly passed a resolution seeking the withdrawal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), CPI general secretary D Raja on Wednesday said that Centre must cooperate with the states and listen to their demands.

"One should understand that India is a country with an elected parliament and elected legislative assemblies. There must be proper cooperation between the Centre and the states. Whenever legislation of this kind is passed, the state governments will have to give concurrence but there are several state governments who have different views," said Raja while speaking to ANI about Kerala Assembly's anti-CAA resolution.

"If states don't agree with the Centre then it should listen to the demands of state governments. The combination of a strong Centre and weak states will not work here. We need to have a strong Centre and strong states. The Centre must be prepared to listen to the views of the state," he said.

Being asked about BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao's remark that resolution passed against CAA in the Kerala Assembly was "a breach of privileges of Parliament", DMK leader said, "I don't understand what GVL Narasimha Rao is talking about. He is talking about the privilege of the Parliament but who can question the privilege of the Legislative Assembly."

"CAA has become a matter of controversy," he said adding that he also considers it to be "unconstitutional".

On Tuesday, Rao had filed a petition with the Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu seeking to initiate breach of privilege and contempt proceedings against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after the state Assembly passed a resolution seeking withdrawal of the CAA.

Before the resolution was passed against the Act, Vijayan in a special Assembly session targetted RSS and said that citizenship law is part of an agenda.