Nitish will lead NDA in Bihar polls: Amit Shah

New Delhi/Kharauna (Bihar): Hailing Bihar for giving "the best response" to amended Citizenship Act, BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday appealed to the people to pledge their support to the new law by giving a missed call on a designated number from their mobile phones.

He urged the crowd attending a pro-CAA rally at Kharauna in Vaishali district, about 75 km from Patna, to give a missed call to the 8866288662, pledging their support to the legislation which has triggered country-wide protests.

Shah also sought to dispel "rumours" of discord within the NDA in the state, asserting that the upcoming Assembly polls in Bihar will be contested under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Shah slammed the Opposition for misleading minorities about the Act in pursuance of their "vote bank" politics and engineering violence that had erupted in the aftermath.

Underscoring that the law provided for granting citizenship and not snatching it away from anybody, he said the party was organising rallies across the country with a view to busting the misinformation campaign. He spoke in support of the CAA, but did not mention NRC or NPR (National Population Register) in his speech.

Opposition RJD, Congress and their Grand Alliance partners in Bihar have been campaigning among the people against the CAA, proposed NRC and NPR. Lalu Prasad's RJD has been targeting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over these issues.

Kumar, whose party JD(U) voted in favour of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Parliament to help it become an Act, has said a country-wide implementation of National Register of Citizens was "needless" and had "no justification".