New Delhi, Jan 31: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asserted that his government has no reason to feel defensive about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and asked NDA leaders to back the measure strongly in Parliament.

A BJP ally told PTI after the meeting that Modi asked the NDA leaders, who met to strategise as Parliament's Budget Session began here on Friday, to aggressively take on the opposition's charge that the amended citizenship law discriminated against Muslims and said that minorities are as much "ours as other citizens are".

The government has done nothing wrong as far as the amended Citizenship Act is concerned and has no reason to feel defensive about, he said, according to the ally, who did not wish to be quoted.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders also hailed the prime minister for the Bodo accord and settlement of Bru tribe members in Tripura.

Opposition leaders have said they will raise the issue of nationwide protests against the CAA in the session, as they accused the Modi government of arrogance and making no effort to reach out to protestors.

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Ranipet (Tamil Nadu) (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was being "controlled" by US President Donald Trump and that the PM wanted the AIADMK to capture power so that he could control Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

Also, he claimed that the prime minister "handed out our energy security and gave away our data, besides selling our farmers and small and medium industries."

"You saw yesterday (in Parliament) the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi completely lacking confidence," Rahul said on the delimitation bill.

"He (PM) could not even face the opposition. He was sitting sideways. And the reason is, he is controlled by the United States. He signed the India-US deal that sold our country out," Rahul said while addressing an election rally here.

He further said, "Today, if Donald Trump tells Modi to jump, Modi jumps. If Donald Trump tells Modi to lie down, Modi lies down. Why? Because Donald Trump controls Modi fully. How does he control him? He controls through the Epstein files. He controls him because he knows Modi's financial systems and understands Modi's link with Adani," the Congress leader alleged.

Just as he was being controlled by Trump, Modi wanted to do the same to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. "That is why he wants to put AIADMK in power in TN," Rahul said.

The Union government had rejected references to PM Modi in the latest Jeffrey Epstein case files, describing it as “little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal that deserves to be dismissed with the utmost contempt”.