No outcome from JPC meet

The crucial and final JPC meet had begun amidst report that BJP is going tough and against dilution even as Congress and others favours removal of Bangladesh name from the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016; But it ended without taking a decision on the issue.

As per sources, there will be another meeting soon to take final decision on the Bill.

JPC has scheduled November 27 and December 6 for taking decisions regarding the matter.

All the members of JPC except BJP's thirteen members had opposed the Bill in the hour-long meeting.

On the eve of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) meeting on the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the BJP has clarified that the party will support it and is not in favour of any dilution of the Bill.

The BJP stand may lead to an impasse because a section of the opposition members in the JPC recommended some amendment to the Bill, suggesting that Bangladesh should be taken out of the purview of the Bill.

The BJP is not in favour of tinkering with the Bill and wants the JPC to recommend it in toto, said a member of the BJP.

This means the BJP is going ahead wih the tabling of the bill, which they will table on the lasted ate of the Winter Session. As the parliament is expected to be washed out again due to Rafale controversy, the a determined BJP will bring ordinance giving scant respect to the sentiments of Assamese people.

The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), meanwhile, on Monday appealed to all members of the JPC hailing from Assam to oppose the Bill in larger interest of the people of the State.

The JPC on Tuesday is slated to consider the Bill clause by clause before submitting it in the Parliament.

The BJP which has been guarded in its response to the Bill has finally opened its cards. "This is our Bill, how can we disown it now," said the party MP.

The Rajendra Agrawal-headed JPC is likely to submit its report during the Winter Session of the Parliament that gets under way on December 11. Its term also expires in the last week of the Winter Session.

Incidentally, the chairman was not keen on the JPC submitting its report citing paucity of time and a long list of pending works. The opposition members, however, opposed it.

The other members of the AGP delegation are State ministers Keshab Mahanta and Phani Bhushan Choudhury, besides Birendra Prasad Baishya and Ramendra Narayan Kalita.