P Chidambaram outside the Parliament after passage of Citizenship Bill
The Shiv Sena not voting in favour of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is a welcome development and the Congress is happy about it, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said on Wednesday. The Shiv Sena abstained from voting on the contentious citizenship bill in Rajya Sabha as the government did not give satisfactory answers to queries raised by the party, its Upper House member Anil Desai said.
The Shiv Sena, which voted in favour of the controversial Bill in Lok Sabha, opposed it in Rajya Sabha, saying the draft law should have been debated on the basis of "humanity, not religion".
Asked about the change in Sena's stand, Chidambaram said, "We are certainly happy that the Shiv Sena did not vote in favour of the Bill".
"We got 105 (votes) and that is very good. Shiv Sena not voting in favour of the government is a welcome development," he told reporters.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, was passed by Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Lok Sabha cleared the Bill on Monday.
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