NEW DELHI, April 5: A meeting of leaders of political parties in the Lok Sabha failed to reach a consensus on the women’s reservation Bill with most opponents of the legislation sticking to their stated positions.
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad, a strong opponent of the Bill in its present form, said the legislation should provide reservation for Dalits, minorities and the backward castes.Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, also the leader of the house in the Lok Sabha, convened the meeting at the parliament complex.Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily and Defence Minister A.K. Antony also attended the meeting.
The Bill seeks to reserve 33 percent of all seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures for women.Union Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said her party supported the Bill, but the interest of the minorities should be taken care of.
Ahead of the meeting, Lalu Prasad said that he and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav would oppose the bill in its present form.The Bill, passed amid uproar in the Rajya Sabha last month, is also opposed by the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and a section of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U).
On Sunday, Samajwadi Party spokesman Mohan Singh told IANS that the party would oppose the Bill at Monday’s meeting.The government, which faces a bigger opposition to the Bill in the Lok Sabha, wants to introduce it in the lower house in the second phase of the budget session that starts April 15.
The Samajwadi Party has suggested that reservation for women in legislatures should be brought down to 20 percent from the proposed 33 percent.The Congress has said it will strive to achieve a consensus on the legislation.(IANS)
