Bengaluru, July 11 (IANS) Describing the Permanent Residence Certificate (PRC) being issued by the state Congress government as a “devious strategy to protect illegal immigrants and consolidate its vote bank”, Karnataka BJP President and MLA B. Y. Vijayendra on Saturday said his party would explore legal options to challenge the constitutional validity of the PRC.

The party will also submit a petition to the Governor against this “patently illogical and unconstitutional” move, he stated.

Vijayendra said he would shortly convene a meeting of his party’s legal team to discuss ways and means to challenge what he described as the Congress government’s “patently unconstitutional and illogical move”.

“We will also submit a petition to the Governor, the constitutional head of the state, and bring to his attention how the state government is trying to usurp the powers and authority of the Centre,” Vijayendra added.

The state BJP President slammed the Congress for its “double standards and duplicity” on the issue of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the PRC.

“When the BJP government at the Centre wanted to exercise its constitutional right to prepare the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Congress party opposed it and raised a hue and cry. Now, the Congress government in Karnataka is issuing PRCs, which are totally unconstitutional and patently illogical,” Vijayendra added.

According to Vijayendra, the power to prepare the NRC or issue PRCs rests with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which establishes whether an individual is a bona fide citizen.

“The task of determining citizenship under the Indian Citizenship Act rests solely with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. I charge the Congress government with not only working at cross-purposes with the Union government but also usurping the powers and authority of the Centre solely for political considerations,” Vijayendra added.

Vijayendra further alleged that the state government’s decision to issue PRCs at a time when the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise is under way smacks of a political conspiracy to draw electoral dividends by protecting illegal immigrants and consolidating its vote bank.

The BJP President concluded by saying: “My party will fight this unconstitutional and illogical exercise both politically and legally. We will approach the constitutional head of the state to draw his attention to the issue. We will not allow the Congress government to usurp the Centre’s powers and authority in matters related to the Indian Citizenship Act.”

–IANS

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