Tourists at the City Palace in Jaipur on Tuesday. (PTI)

New Delhi, May 20: The Centre has sought help from the governments in Bengal and other states sharing borders with Bangladesh to verify the antecedents of suspected illegal migrants settled in different parts of the country.

Illegal migration from Bangladesh is a prickly issue in Bengal with the Opposition accusing the Left of building a vote bank by giving bogus ration cards but, of late, the state government has expressed concern over extremists exploiting the porous border.

The first test for Bengal could come from Rajasthan, where suspected migrants from Bangladesh are under scanner following the Jaipur blasts. Although no breakthrough has been achieved, security agencies have been dropping hints that the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul Jihadi Islami (Huji) is involved.

“We are in the process of writing to Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura to help Rajasthan and other states in verifying the antecedents of those under the scanner,” a home ministry official said.

The problem, according to him, was that many illegal migrants from Bangladesh had managed to get fake ration documents and voter identity cards. “They generally have documents with an address in any of the bordering states. Mostly, it is a Bengal address. While Rajasthan is in the process of rounding up suspected Bangladeshi illegal migrants, it will need the help of the Bengal government and other states to verify the authenticity of the documents held by them. It is painstaking but a must,” the official said.

He also cautioned that the states needed to tread with caution to ensure that the process did not assume communal overtones.

With chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia bringing out in the open differences with the Centre on the issue, home ministry sources said they had been keeping a distance from illegal migrants in the hope that states would handle the sensitive issue.

However, the Jaipur blasts have proved that co-operation among the states and the Centre was needed, the sources said.

On Vasundhara’s claim that the Centre had asked her to round up Bangladeshi illegal migrants and put them in a camp, the sources said they had always been asking the states to handle the issue as they thought appropriate.

“The only guideline given to them is that they should follow the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946, regarding detection and deportation of illegal migrants. At all meetings the Centre has had with the states on internal security, we keep stressing on this,” an official said.

The sources said it was unfortunate that it had turned out to be a state-versus-Centre tussle. “It was bound to happen. Elections are nearing,” the official said.