Margao: Former Nuvem MLA Francisco ‘Mickky’ Pacheco on Saturday fired a fresh salvo against his bete noire, minister for law and judiciary Aleixo Sequeira, over the contentious Portuguese passport issue.  Responding to the statement made by Rajya Sabha MP Sadanand Shet Tanavade in the Parliament on Friday urging the government to “reconsider the decision of revoking Indian passports solely based on the birth registration in Portugal,” Pacheco said that the state government should first come clean over the citizenship status of Sequeira, who he alleged registered his birth in Portugal in 2021.

 

“If he has registered his birth in Portugal as this document clearly shows (referring to a copy of a document he held in his hand), we want to know if he has surrendered his Indian citizenship,” Pacheco said. “The government, which has made him its minister, should come out clean – did he cancel his birth registration in Portugal before contesting the last assembly election and then re-registered his birth in India? If so, when? If not, he isn’t eligible to hold a position (in the government).”

 

Ahead of the 2022 assembly election, Sequeira was embroiled in a passport row. It was alleged that he held a Portuguese passport, but he outrightly dismissed the allegations. Pacheco said if people resort to registration of their birth in Portugal, while continuing to avail benefits of welfare schemes meant for Indian citizens, it amounts to “fooling the government.”