Peeved over JDU's support to CAB, Prashant Kishor offers to resign; Nitish Kumar says no

Patna: Janata Dal-United (JDU) vice president Prashant Kishor, who publicly took a stand contrary to that of his party on the citizenship law, offered his resignation to the party chief Nitish Kumar here on Saturday, sources said.

According to sources, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has not yet accepted Kishor's resignation.

Prashant Kishor, who has aired his concerns over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, also deleted the party designation from his bio on Twitter.

After meeting JD-U chief Kumar, Kishor said: "Nitish Kumar said that we are not in favour of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). There is no problem with the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, but it becomes discriminatory when combined with the NRC."

Before their meeting, Kishor told reporters that he was firm on his stance on the citizenship law. "I have said it publicly, not just for Nitish Kumar but for everyone," he said.

A day before the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on December 11, Kishor had asked his party to reconsider its decision to support the Bill in Parliament.

The party, which shares power with the BJP in Bihar, however, voted in favour of the Bill in both the Houses of Parliament.

After getting the nod of the Rajya Sabha, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill became an Act on December 12 with the assent of President Ram Nath Kovind.

Undeterred by the state ministers' criticism, Kishor continued to publicly oppose the citizenship law. On Friday, he even gave a clarion call to oppose the Act urging the non-BJP ruled states to clear their stand.

"The majority prevailed in Parliament. Now beyond the judiciary, the task of saving the soul of India is on 16 Non-BJP CMs as it is the states who have to operationalise these acts. Three CMs (Punjab/Kerala/WB) have said NO to CAB and NRC. Time for others to make their stand clear," Kishor had tweeted.