Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president Atul Bora on Tuesday hinted that his party was not going to oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

Bora said they had opposed the bill earlier as they knew the BJP did not have the number in the Rajya Sabha. “But this time we cannot stop it. If it (BJP) want to fulfil its national agenda, it will be done. Instead, the right thinking at this moment is to find out what best we can get by bargaining with the Centre,” he said.

Bora said Assam may need to shoulder the burden of some illegal migrants because of CAB. “We have already taken such a burden.”

He said the state had taken the burden of lakhs of illegal immigrants but not enjoyed constitutional safeguards. “Which is why we now need constitutional safeguards,” he added. He appreciated the Centre for constituting a high-powered committee to suggest how to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.

The AGP, a part of the BJP-led coalition government in Assam, had come out of the alliance earlier opposing the bill. Three of its ministers — Bora, Keshab Mahanta and Phani Bhusan Choudhury — had resigned. However, when the bill lapsed because of Centre’s failure to table it in Rajya Sabha in January, the AGP returned to the coalition and its three leaders took charge of their ministries.

An AGP delegation, led by Bora, had met Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday. “We told Shah that we opposed the earlier bill. We could not accept incessant flow of illegal migrants. He (Shah) said there would be a cut-off date. Though we have heard the cut-off date would be December 31, 2014, Shah did not speak about it,” Bora said.

Bora said Assam had accepted at least 30 lakh foreigners who had illegally entered the state between 1951 and 1971. “Now we need to take a realistic approach,” he said.

“I can tell that neither we will be able to deport illegal migrants, nor will Bangladesh accept them. This is the reality,” he said. He added the AGP could not identify and deport illegal migrants during its two terms.