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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, July 14: The Congress today squarely blamed the BJP for the postponement of the Women's Reservation Bill saying such a suggestion had come from the ruling party which was only interested in shelving the legislation.
The deputy leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, P Shiv Shanker, said it was Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana and BJP leader Pramod Mahajan who had suggested at a meeting with the Speaker that the demand of Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav for two more days for consultations be conceded.
He took exception to the reported statement by Prime Minister Vajpayee and Khurana imputing motives to the Congress and blaming it for the Bill's deferment.
Shiv Shanker, who met Vajpayee along with Rajesh Pilot, rejected reports of Congress backtracking on the measure and said they made it clear to Vajpayee that the party was keen on 33 per cent reservation for women but wanted to know whether the government was keen to accommodate sub-quotas. Shiv Shanker said the Prime NEW DELHI, July 14: The Congress today squarely blamed the BJP for the postponement of the Women's Reservation Bill saying such a suggestion had come from the ruling party which was only interested in shelving the legislation.
The deputy leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, P Shiv Shanker, said it was Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana and BJP leader Pramod Mahajan who had suggested at a meeting with the Speaker that the demand of Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav for two more days for consultations be conceded.
He took exception to the reported statement by Prime Minister Vajpayee and Khurana imputing motives to the Congress and blaming it for the Bill's deferment.
Shiv Shanker, who met Vajpayee along with Rajesh Pilot, rejected reports of Congress backtracking on the measure and said they made it clear to Vajpayee that the party was keen on 33 per cent reservation for women but wanted to know whether the government was keen to accommodate sub-quotas. Shiv Shanker said the PrimeMinister told them that the government wanted to introduce the Bill today in its present form and "it is a matter for the Speaker who can take the decision otherwise".
Stating that since there were divisions within BJP's own ranks, he said there was no reason to blame the Congress for the deferment. "But we were only exploring the ruling party's attitude as to the accommodation on the question of reservation within reservation".
Shiv Shanker said Pilot and he met the Prime Minister following advice from party president Sonia Gandhi in the parliamentary party meeting held earlier in the day.
UNI adds that flak for the fiasco also came from the National Commission for Women (NCW) which demanded that all MPs who indulged in raucous behaviour in the House over the Women's Reservation Bill be suspended.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Vajpayee, NCW chairperson Mohini Giri alleged that hundreds of women demonstrating outside Parliament Gate demanding the tabling of the 84th amendment bill were pushed,shoved and roughed up by police.
Led by NCW members, scores of women demonstrators also sat on a dharna in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue at Parliament House today. The security staff threatened and tried to bodily remove these women from the precincts of Parliament House, she added.
"Shocked by the undignified and unparliamentary behaviour of some members who stormed into the Well of the House, tore up the Women's Bill and almost came to blows with their fellow members, the women activists decided to exert their democratic rights and invoke the spirit of the father of the nation," Giri said in her letter to Vajpayee.
She added that those who have opposed the Bill, reserving 33 per cent seats in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies for women, on behalf of the weaker sections have never shown any concern and do not represent their interests.
The open letter also signed by representatives of women's organisations, including Mahila Dakshita Samiti, All India Women's Conference, National Allianceof Women and Joint Women's Programme, also urged the Prime Minister to take necessary steps to ensure the safe passage of the Bill in the current session of Parliament.In a statement here, the BJP Mahila Morcha also condemned the incident and said that women will never forgive those standing in way of the Bill's passage.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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