Uddhav Thackeray Forms Panel On CAA-NPR

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray formed a Cabinet sub-committee to study the issues related to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Population Register (NPR). Earlier, Thackeray, who had first opposed the amended Citizenship Act and NPR, made statements in their support. The Maharashtra chief Minister had remarked that there was no reason to fear the CAA and compared the NPR to a census exercise.

The Maharashtra Chief Minister's revised stand raised the hackles of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition partners, Congress and Nationalist Congress party (NCP). Both the Congress and NCP reacted to the chief minister's statements on CAA saying that in a coalition unilateral decisions should not be taken and that other parties ought to be consulted.

Uddhav Thackeray's latest decision to form a Cabinet sub-committee puts a cap on the controversy for now. Although there are no elections in sight, the Shiv Sena faces the threat of its core voter base getting eroded due to the aggressive posture on CAA, NRC, NPR and illegal immigrants adopted by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray. The MNS is now seen to be moving ideologically closer to the BJP.

The Shiv Sena came to power forming a post-poll alliance with the Congress and NCP after its prolonged talks to share power with its pre-poll ally BJP, broke down. However, on previous occasions in the three months of power-sharing between the alliance partners of MVA, there have been differences over cabinet formation and allocation of portfolios, among other things.