New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's demand for barring people of foreign origin from occupying high offices drew strong support on September 7 from former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) Leader P A Sangma, but his party president Sharad Pawar and AIADMK's (All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) arch rival DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) side-stepped the issue targeting Sonia Gandhi.

The issue also figured at the political conference of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Calcutta where Union Minister Pramod Mahajan and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh said that the party would not accept any foreigner as their leader.

Chandra Shekhar said in no country in the world, a person who is not a natural citizen has become President or Prime Minister. "If India desired to do something new, who could stop it," he added sarcastically.

Sangma told a National Camp of his party that there was a "crying need" for excluding persons of foreign origin from the office of the Prime Minister and creating consensus among like-minded parties on the issue.

"There is a need for a sustained campaign for an appropriate legislation in terms of this philosophy," he said.

PTI