Panaji:

Amidst hopes that a central government authority will resolve the dual citizenship issue related to Goans, chief minister

on Thursday expressed his views against Goans taking up Portuguese citizenship.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event at Porvorim, Parsekar said, “The public has to give this a thought. Those who wait in long queues outside at Altinho (at the Portuguese consulate). They need to think about giving up their citizenship there and taking up Portuguese passport.”

He said from his understanding of the issue, there may not be a major problem for those who have their births registered in Lisbon. The issue in question pertains to those who have obtained Portuguese passport.

“We understand that for jobs one can go anywhere, but there is need for introspection among the people on the issue of taking citizenship of another country and giving up Indian citizenship,” Parsekar said

The chief minister’s statement comes in the backdrop of critical comments passed by

, the group that is demanding that grants be withdrawn to English-medium primary schools, two days ago. Its leaders had lambasted the government for trying to resolve the dual citizenship issue. The central government is appointing an ‘authority’ to resolve the issue.

tnn