With the Left parties strongly against any dilution of the 33 per cent reservation to women in legislatures, the controversial bill for the purpose is unlikely to be taken up and passed in the current monsoon session of parliament. The United Front governments position is that the bills progress depends on all parties reaching a consensus.
With four more days remaining of the session, Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma has convened an all-party meeting today on the issue. Union minister for parliamentary affairs Srikanta Jena has convened a similar meeting of the United Front constituents amidst suggestions for diluting the percentage from 33 to 15 or 20.
After a meeting of Left parties yesterday, CPI (M) leader H S Surjeet said there would be no compromise on the proposal for a 33 per cent reservation.
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A delegation of Left parties would meet Prime Minister I K Gujral today to demand that the bill be passed in the current session itself since it was a priority area for them.
Jena has asked leaders of all Front constituents to issue three-line whips to their MPs to be present in parliament during the remaining days of the session.
This has been done in the backdrop of the government facing acute embarrassment last week due to the absence of Congress MPs and the opposition BJP exploiting the situation to corner the government on various bills.
A senior minister said that in order to prevent further embarrassment, the womens reservation bill would be taken up only if a consensus is reached among all parties.
This, however, could be a ploy to further postpone consideration of the bill beyond the monsoon session.
While some parties like the Janata Dal favour diluting the percentage of
reservation, the Left parties are firm on the figure of 33.
There are several important legislative business yet to be taken up by
parliament in this session, and the government appears to be keen to ensure that it does not face further embarrassment.
The business includes supplementary demands for grants relating to Union and railway budgets, the extension of the essential commodities act, which lapses this month-end and a bill to regularise the out-of-turn allotment of houses to government employees in Delhi.
The constitutional amendment bill seeking to make primary education a fundamental right is also likely to come up in the last week, United Front sources said.
The meeting of Left parties discussed three priority issues, including the womens reservation bill.
The other two are: the targeted public distribution scheme for the poor and the announcement of minimimum wages for the agricultural workers. According to CPI leader A B Bardhan, the Left parties had issue a whip to their MPs.