BJP will resolve citizenship issue if elected to power at Centre: Parrikar

PANAJI: If the BJP comes to power at the centre, then Goans embroiled in the Portuguese citizenship issue can expect some relief as the BJP leadership "is capable of getting the issue resolved," chief minister Manohar Parrikar said on Wednesday.
Parrikar added that the BJP is also confident of obtaining special status for Goa on certain issues but it would take time.
Speaking to mediapersons, Parrikar said he has already written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to correspond with the Portuguese government requesting them to amend their laws which grant Portuguese citizenship to those who merely register their births in Lisbon.
Further elaborating on the topic, the chief minister said that those who 'voluntarily' attain Portuguese citizenship by obtaining a Portuguese passport automatically lose their Indian citizenship. Parrikar said the whole procedure, whereby people are considered Portuguese citizens merely because their births have been registered in the central registry in Lisbon, is a faulted one.
He said that this registration of births in Lisbon could be done by a third person or an agent without the knowledge and consent of the persons registered. This is the same logic that Parrikar has used to defend Benaulim MLA Caetano 'Caitu' Silva, who the Union ministry of home affairs has certified as a Portuguese citizen because he has registered his birth in Lisbon. Parrikar has insisted that Silva has never travelled to Portugual, has never signed any document to register his birth there and does not have a Portuguese passport.