TN CM has no authority to say he will not implement CAA in state: Annamalai
Chennai (PTI): BJP Tamil Nadu unit president K Annamalai on Tuesday said Chief Minister M K Stalin has 'no powers' under the law of the land to take a stand against implementing the CAA in the state.
Outlining Constitutional provisions like the State list, Union list and Concurrent list and separation of powers including those related to legislation, the BJP leader said Stalin has taken his oath of office under the Constitution.
Though Stalin may oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) politically, he cannot take an official stand against implementing the Central law in Tamil Nadu and he does not have any authority under the Constitution to decide to not implement the CAA and related rules, Annamalai asserted.
In case Stalin insisted on such a stand, he asked if the Chief Minister was going against the oath of office.
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"The extent of the Chief Minister's knowledge on Constitution provisions is a question mark."
CM Stalin rather than uttering 'lie and diverting and confusing people,' should specify the 'mistake' in the CAA rules, if any.
In Tamil Nadu, political parties make the 'sin' of causing confusion among the people by making superficial observations, he alleged.
Annamalai said the CAA is well-reasoned and it is one that grants citizenship and does not take away anyone's citizenship. "Not even one citizenship can be cancelled under the Act."
As regards Sri Lankan Tamils, they have also been granted citizenship according to extant rules.
India is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol and the nation follows the 'principle of non-refoulement' which prohibits transfer of individuals to their country of origin when there are grounds to believe that the person (refugee) would be at risk of irreparable harm upon return to his nation.
The BJP leader said Lankan Tamils may choose to go back to their country following return of normalcy and they have also been given citizenship by India.
In 2005, even the Congress party amended the Citizenship Amendment Act and as per that amendment, 'no person who is or had been a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh...shall be eligible for registration' as an overseas citizen of India, he said.
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Search ops expanded to trace four missing passengers
Jabalpur (PTI): Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after the cruise boat tragedy that claimed nine lives two days ago, officials said.
With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.
The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.
Nine people drowned in the incident, while 28 were rescued, and efforts are ongoing to trace the missing persons, he said.
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According to the police, more than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, began the search operation at 5 am on Saturday to trace Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his son Tamil (5), Vijay Soni (6) and Mayuram (5).
Mishra said that an inquest case has been registered and the post-mortem of nine deceased persons has been completed.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.
Investigators have said that CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the ill-fated boat, and the names of 41 persons, who boarded the vessel, have been ascertained so far.
Collector Raghvendra Singh confirmed that a search is underway for four missing persons.
The rescue operation, being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers, was briefly affected around 9 am due to strong winds.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and safety lapses, including failure to provide life jackets.
The government also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, sank during a sudden storm around 6 pm on Thursday, and the wreckage was retrieved from the dam water on Friday, after the rescuers confirmed that there were no more bodies inside.
Eyewitnesses have said that strong winds made the water choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the vessel towards the riverbank.
A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.
