Congress delegation in North-East to assess ground reality regarding NRC, Citizenship Amendment Bill

The Congress has sent a delegation of senior party leaders from Delhi to North-East states to take feedback on the issue of National Register for Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Bill from ground level.

The team of All India Congress Committee (AICC) leaders, constituted by party's interim president Sonia Gandhi, comprises of Mukul Wasnik, Jairam Ramesh, Jitendra Singh, Manickam Tagore and Mohammad Ali Khan reached Imphal on Sunday. They will visit Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Manipur in the coming days.

Earlier on October 25, a meeting was held at Sonia Gandhi's residence in the national capital with the senior leaders including from North East, but no consensus was reached and no final stand was taken.

Gandhi was not satisfied with the view of the leaders from the states as many leaders have a difference of opinion on the issues. In fact, Tripura Congress unit president Pradyot Deb Barman quit the party alleging that he was asked to withdraw his plea filed in the Supreme Court.

So, to get a sense, a committee has been formed comprising of leaders who are not from North-East states.

A senior leader from the group and MP Manickam Tagore told ANI that they have been asked to take feedback and submit the report to Gandhi for the party's policy/stance on the NRC and Citizenship Amendment Bill before the next Parliament session.

Another Committee has been formed by Gandhi comprising of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, AK Antony, KC Venugopal, Kapil Sibal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, North East in-charge of AICC Luizinho Falerio, Mukul Sangma, Lal Thanhawala, Gaurav Gogoi, Ripun Bora, Sushmita Dev, PK Biswas and Kewekhape.

This team is for discussion and taking final decision and policy. It includes leaders from North-East states.