The question of the Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar’s daughter MP Supriya Sule’s citizenship has put the home ministry — led by R.R Patil — on the backfoot, with Mr Patil making feeble attempts to defend Ms Sule. “It is surprising that someone questioned her citizenship,” said Mr Patil.
Last week, the Bombay high court had given the Union home ministry a three-month deadline to decide on the citizenship issue of Ms Sule, who has opted for permanent residence status in Singapore.
The petitioner Mrunalini Kakade who contested elections for the Lok Sabha against Ms Sule from the Baramati constituency, had filed an election petition challenging the election on the ground that the MP had deliberately suppressed the fact that she had opted Singapore citizenship.
The petitioner demanding the cancellation of the election of Ms Sule as MP had pointed out that the home department was deliberately delaying to take a decision on her complaint lodged in June 2009.
She had contested that the home ministry instead of calling for a factual report from the Singapore government or Indian embassy there, had been wasting time getting a report from the state government. The petitioner stated that Ms Sule owned a flat and property in Singapore, and also revealed the MP’s citizenship number in Singapore (S 69726251). She contested that it was not possible for the MP to buy property in Singapore without being a citizen of that country.
The bench hearing the petition has asked the home ministry to take a decision in view of the fact that if any Indian citizen opts for citizenship of any other nation, he has to surrender his Indian citizenship.
While Ms Sule refused to comment on the episode, Mr Patil said, “It is not advisable for me to speak on a matter which is sub-judice, but it is strange for someone to raise a question mark on Supriyatai’s citizenship. We will be submit our side in the court of law,” said Mr Patil.