AGP ministers take U-turn, say they opposed Citizenship Bill in Assam Cabinet meet

Three AGP ministers today said they opposed the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 at a meeting of the Assam Cabinet, in a U-turn a day after a party leader claimed the issue was not raised at the key state forum.

The Cabinet meeting was held yesterday and immediately after it Assam government spokesperson and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary had told the reporters that the Asom Gana Parishad did not raise any issue related to the bill.

AGP general secretary Ramendra Narayan Kalita had told the media that the three AGP ministers -- Atul Bora, Keshab Mahanta and Phani Bhusan Choudhury -- did not raise the issue the meeting as Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had met them before it commenced and requested them to discuss it at the next sitting of the coordination committee of the three alliance partners.

But taking a U-turn, Bora, who is the AGP president and the state agriculture minister, today said, "We strongly raised the issue (in the Cabinet meeting). We said that we cannot be in the government if the bill is passed."
"The issue was not in the agenda (of the meeting), yet we raised it and discussed it for about half-an-hour which led to a lot of debate."