With the numbers on its side, the ruling Congress was upbeat that the long-pending Women\u2019s Reservation Bill that will be presented in the Rajya Sabha on International Women\u2019s Day Monday for discussion and passage will sail through without a hitch.<\/p>\n
Law Minister Veerappa Moily will present the bill, to amend the constitution to reserve 33 percent of seats in parliament and the state legislatures, Monday in the Rajya Sabha, where the Congress enjoys the clear support of 167 MPs in the 245-member house thanks to major opposition parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left supporting the measure.<\/p>\n
The Congress and the BJP issued whips asking their MPs to be present in the Rajya Sabha Monday. The Left is also expected to do so as a constitution amendment bill has to be passed by a 50 percent majority of both houses of parliament.<\/p>\n
The Congress, the BJP and the Left have 71, 45 and 22 seats respectively in the Rajya Sabha. Others who will support are AIADMK (7 MPs), Nationalist Congress Party (6), Biju Janata Dal (3), Trinamool Congress (2), Asom Gana Parishad (2), Telugu Desam Party (2) and independents and others (7), taking the total to 167. The bill needs the support of 163 MPs to clear the upper house.<\/p>\n
Against this, the bill\u2019s prominent opponents like the Samajwadi Party, the Janata Dal-United, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Shiv Sena can muster only 27 MPs.<\/p>\n
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, which was considered one of the fence sitters, Friday said the party would support the bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe support the women\u2019s reservation bill,\u201d Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay told IANS.<\/p>\n
The DMK, a prominent UPA ally, however, has not revealed its stand. Another fence sitter is the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.<\/p>\n
The BSP has 12 MPs in the Rajya Sabha and the DMK has 4.<\/p>\n
The equation in the Lok Sabha is a lot more comforable, as the Congress, BJP and Left between them have 348 MPs in the 545-member house.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a reference to th bill during his speech in the Lok Sabha Friday on the motion of thanks for the president\u2019s address<\/p>\n
\u201cWe introduced the Women\u2019s Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha in May 2008. We have already considered the report of the standing committe of parliament on this bill. It will be our endeavour to bring the bill before parliament in this very session. I sincerely hope that hon\u2019ble members will support the bill, as it would be the strongest affirmation of our commitment to the empowerment of women,\u201d the prime minister said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, \u201cfully\u201d supporting the bill, the BJP Friday issued a whip to its party members to be present in the Rajya Sabha Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cA whip has been issued to party MPs to be present in the house on Monday,\u201d Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said.<\/p>\n
Asked about the party\u2019s stance on the bill, he said the BJP supported it fully.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt (the bill) is a long standing commitment. We support it fully,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi told party MPs that she accorded the \u201chighest importance\u201d to the women\u2019s reservation bill and it would be a \u201cgift to the women of India if it is introduced and passed\u201d in parliament on March 8, International Women\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
On his part, RJD leader Lalu Prasad Friday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convene an all-party meeting \u201cto evolve a consensus\u201d on the bill before introducing it in parliament.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Lalu Prasad said in Lok Sabha that his party would oppose the introduction of the bill in its present form.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the name of reservation, prominent (political) leaders\u2019 (parliamentary) chances will be spoiled,\u201d Lalu said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the numbers on its side, the ruling Congress was upbeat that the long-pending Women\u2019s Reservation Bill that will be presented in the Rajya Sabha on International Women\u2019s Day Monday for discussion and passage will sail through without a hitch. Law Minister Veerappa Moily will present the bill, to amend the constitution to reserve 33 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-law-news"],"yoast_head":"\n