No Problem With NPR, Says Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday, said that he would not block the implementation of National Population Register (NPR) which was like the census exercise in the state. There was nothing wrong with the NPR as the census was also undertaken once in ten years, he added. There was nothing to fear in the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), he said, according to media reports.

The chief minister's stand signifies a fresh rift between the Shiv Sena and its allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, the Nationalist Congress party (NCP) and the Congress over the CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

While the Congress and NCP are bitterly opposed to all three exercises, Maharashtra chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray seems to have taken a separate line on NPR. The NCP has been vocal in its opposition to the implementation of CAA, NRC and NPR in Maharashtra.

There have been sharp differences between NCP and the Sena supremo on handing over the Elgar Parishad and Bhima Koregaon cases to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray clarified on Tuesday that Elgar Parishad and Bhima-Koregaon violence are two different issues.

The Maharashtra chief Minister said that he had not handed over the Bhima Koregaon case to the Centre. He maintained that the NIA would probe the Elgar Parishad case, and not the Bhima Koregaon case.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar is strongly opposed to handing over the Elgar Parishad, Bhima Koregaon cases to the Centre. Pawar observed that even the judge in question observed that the Elgar Parishad case should be investigated separately. He added that the NCP therefore, demanded an independent probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).