JDU minority cell secretary tenders resignation over party's support to citizenship law

The newly amended citizenship law has sparked dissent within Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) with party leader Khawaja Shahid tendering resignation over chief minister's stand on the contentious legislation.

Shahid, who held the post of the party's minority cell's general secretary, resigned after the party leaders supported the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

This comes days after JDU vice president Prashant Kishor aired his concerns over the Act and offered his resignation.

He also deleted his designation from the Twitter bio, as well. Nitish



Kumar has not yet accepted his resignation.

The dissent in JD(U) started simmering after the party, which shares power with the BJP in Bihar, 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.

The Act grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists, and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.