'His Own View': Sharad Pawar Reacts To CM Uddhav Thackeray’s Remarks On CAA, NPR

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s remark on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was his personal view and the Maha Vikas Aghadi government will soon have a discussion on it. "Chief Minister Thackeray has his own view. As far as NCP is concerned, we have voted against CAA. We have a coalition government in Maharashtra and we will have a discussion on it soon," Pawar was quoted as saying by ANI.

Pawar said this hours after Thackeray backed the Centre over CAA saying the new amended act is not a threat. The chief minister also said that he won't block the National Population Register (NPR) in the state.

Thackeray assured that he will "personally check the columns" in the NPR, adding there shouldn't be any problem with the exercise in Maharashtra.

"CAA and NRC are different and NPR is different. No one has to worry if CAA gets implemented. NRC is not there and will not be implemented in the state," Thackeray tweeted.

NPR will happen in the state as there is nothing controversial about it, he said. Thackeray said he will not allow NRC to be implemented in the state.

"If NRC is implemented then it will affect not only Hindus or Muslims but also Adivasis. NPR is a census, and I don't find that anyone will be affected as it happens every 10 years," he said.

Earlier, to bridge up the cracks in the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena alliance government, Thackeray said the Bhima Koregaon and Elgaar case are two separate issues and that he will not allow any injustice to the scheduled cast community. As been widely reported, Thackeray said, he has not transferred the Bhima Koregaon case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The investigative agency has only been asked to probe the Elgaar case, he said.

"Elgaar Parishad case and Bhima Koregaon case are two different cases. Bhima Koregaon case is related to my Dalit people and the probe related to the case will not be handed over to Centre. Centre has only taken over Elgaar Parishad case, (sic),"news agency ANI quoted Thackeray as saying.

The chief of NCP, Sharad Pawar, a key constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government had termed the move "constitutionally wrong" and a violation of the state’s jurisdiction over law-and-order issues.