LS Speaker's intervention deferred voting over CAA draft resolution in EU: TRS MP

TRS MP Nama Nageswara Rao on Tuesday lauded Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and said that the voting on a draft resolution in the European Parliament concerning the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was deferred due to his efforts.

Rao made the remarks while participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address.

He said the European Union wanted to "adopt a resolution" but it was stopped due to intervention by the Speaker.

Rao said that the address made mentioned federalism and said the Centre should assist a young state like Telangana in its development efforts.

The Speaker had last month written to European Parliament President David Maria Sassoli over the draft resolutions that have been tabled by some of its members on the CAA, saying that it is inappropriate for one legislature to pass judgment on another, a practice that can surely be misused by vested interests.

The Speaker in his letter noted that the Act provides for granting "easier citizenship to those who have been subjected to religious persecution in our immediate neighbourhood and is not aimed at taking away citizenship from anybody.

He said the legislation was passed after "due deliberation by both the Houses of the Indian Parliament".

The letter also said that as members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, "we should respect the sovereign processes of fellow legislatures, especially in democracies.