Goyal flays Telangana govt move to pass anti-CAA resolution

Slamming the move to adopt an anti-CAA resolution in the Telangana assmebly, Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said the issue should not be politicised on "petty political grounds" and asked the state government to drop it. The attack comes a day after the state cabinet headed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao decided to pass a resolution in the assembly against the Citizenship Amendment Act, while urging the Centre to repeal last year's changes in the law.

"...in a federal structure, the states have to implement the national laws and I would urge the the government of Telangana not to politicise this issue on petty political or appeasement grounds," the Railway Minister told reporters.

He said the state government should withdraw its decision to table the resolution. The Union Minister said he felt happy when Telangana Minister K T Rama Rao, son of Chandrasekhar Rao, recently spoke at an event in Delhi about the Centre and the state working together.

"But, here, a baseless proposal was passed in the Cabinet on February 16. I would like the state government to withdraw it," he said.

The Cabinet meet felt that the CAA would lead to discrimination on the basis of religion in grant of citizenship and jeopardise secularism envisaged in the Constitution. Earlier, Goyal launched various development initiatives at the Secunderabad railway station.