Days after being elected Deputy Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly, Isidore Fernandes has been caught in a citizenship row after a document that allegedly shows that he has registered his birth in Portugal surfaced online. Fernandes quickly denied the allegations.
Social activist Adv Aires Rodrigues, who placed the document in public domain, said that Fernandes has been a Portuguese citizen since 2014, and was not eligible to hold any constitutional post.
Rodrigues, in a statement issued on Monday, pointed out that the authorities in Lisbon have furnished him documentary proof to the effect that the current Canacona MLA had obtained Portuguese Nationality on April 22, 2014. 
Fernandes, on the other hand, rubbished the claims by Rodrigues, claiming that he was very much an Indian citizen. “I am not a fool to contest elections, if I had asked for Portuguese citizenship,” he said talking to media persons, hours after Rodrigues took to social media with his claim.
“I have never applied for Portuguese passport. I have not taken any other citizenship other than Indian,” Fernandes said. He added, “If Rodrigues wants, he can challenge it before the Court.”
Demanding that Fernandes immediately resign as MLA and Deputy Speaker, Rodrigues has urged Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant to ensure that the Deputy Speaker forthwith refunds all the State emoluments unlawfully pocketed by him since April 2014 after obtaining Portuguese nationality.