NEW DELHI, AUGUST 30: Senior lawyer P N Lekhi on Monday said that he had served legal notices to the Union government and Congress president Sonia Gandhi as a step ahead of approaching a court seeking cancellation of her citizenship as it was granted in ``gross violation and abuse of law''.Claiming that there was no ``politics'' involved in his serving the notices at this stage, Lekhi told reporters that since the issue of Sonia's foreign origin was being ``hotly'' debated in the media these days it would obviously ``agitate'' people.Questioning Home Minister L K Advani's statement to the media on May 24 that Gandhi had renounced her Italian citizenship, deposited her passport and completed all formalities regarding registration for Indian citizenship, Lekhi said, ``The Home Minister was not properly advised on relevant provision in the Italian civil code, which in very clear terms provides for continuation of Italian citizenship even to those persons who are granted citizenship by anothercountry.''Lekhi alleged that the Home Ministry record would show that the officials concerned had ``failed to examine the provisions of the constitution of Italy and Italian civil code in this regard. If the officer had done so, Gandhi would not have been granted citizenship in accordance with our law,'' he said.The Home Minister's statement is ``misleading'' and was not legally tenable keeping in view the scheme of the Italian laws and ``our laws relating to grant and waiver of citizenship,'' he said adding that ``our constitution does not recognise dual citizenship.''
