The court’s order, seeking the clarification on Sule’s
citizenship within three months, was on the petition filed by Mrilani Kakade,
the candidate who lost to Sule in the Parliamentary election from Baramati
constituency in Pune.
Kakade had claimed that Sule was a foreigner and not an
Indian national. In her petition Kakade had alleged that Sule had accepted the
permanent residentship of Singapore and demanded that the court declare her
Indian nationality void. Therefore, in view of this, Sule’s right to contest
elections in India is invalid.
The ruling by the bench consisting of Justice D.D. Sinha and
Justice Mridula Bhatkar on Saturday shook the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)
of Pawar. Sule had won the parliamentary seat on the NCP ticket.
Kakade also alleged that the government is dithering in
providing necessary information about Sule due to her father’s political clout.
She further stated in her petition that it is mandatory on part of the
government to seek factual report from the Indian diplomatic mission in
Singapore or from the government of Singapore.
Prior to her election to the Lok Sabha (Lower House), Sule
was a member of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) and at that time in her sworn
affidavit Sule had provided the information that she had accepted the permanent
resident ship of Singapore voluntarily and that she was the holder of
Singapore's nationality identity card No. 69726251, Kakade claimed in her
petition.
An NCP minister speaking to Arab News dismissed the
allegations leveled by Kakade as mere propaganda and baseless. Sule, he said
never applied for Singapore nationality and was for some years a green card
holder during her stay in the United States with her husband who was based
there.
In another development, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
held a protest rally against the steep hike in petrol, diesel and cooking gas
announced by the federal government on Friday evening.
Senior BJP leader and deputy leader of the opposition in the
Parliament Gopinath Munde who led the protest rally in front of the state
secretariat in Mumbai on Saturday afternoon. Prior to his arrest by the police,
Munde, while addressing the BJP activists at the rally, threatened that if the
federal government does not roll back the hike in the petroleum products, the
opposition would not allow the Parliament to function.
