Women's quota Bill faces Yadav block

Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav today refused to play along with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on the proposed Women's Reservation Bill, joining hands with its political foe, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, on this limited issue. The SP will oppose the Bill.

Yesterday, the Lalu Prasad-led RJD had made it clear that it would not support the government's proposal to reserve 33 per cent seats for women. Today, Prasad said if the Bill in its original form was introduced, then a separate quota should be earmarked for Muslims, SC, ST and OBC women.

If this was not done, he said he favoured 10 or maximum 15 per cent, quota for women irrespective of the category to which they belonged.

The SP says political parties must have the freedom to decide what percentage of seats should be reserved for women and of this, how many should be for SC and ST women and how many for women from Other Backward Classes.

In an effort to create consensus on the reservation of parliamentary seats for women Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had called all political parties for consultations.

The government's calculation was that as there could never be consensus on the matter, it was best to get the law passed by as many parties as possible, without waiting for unanimity. The meeting was attended by leaders of Left parties, the RJD, the LJP, the SP, the BSP, the DMK and the TRS. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad were also present.

The law ministry has prepared two sets of Bills""one that envisaged reservation of 33 per cent seats for women within the existing strength of the two houses; and another increasing the strength of the two houses by 33 per cent.

The existing 545 seats in the Lok Sabha will increase to 900 if this Bill is enacted. The government's strategy seems to be to isolate the two anti-reservationists and secure parliamentary assent for the Bill that needs a constitutional amendment and thus two thirds present and voting in both Houses.

The BJP has already agreed in principle to the 33 per cent quota for women in legislatures and the Left has asked for reservation of 180 seats for women in the present Lok Sabha.

However, several parties are vertically divided on the quantum and nature of the reservation, obviously with an eye to their constituencies.

The DMK, another UPA ally today said it would 'whole-heartedly welcome' the bill but if a provision was also made for a quota for women belonging to backward classes within the overall reservation for women.

'If such a decision is taken, it will fulfil the most important demand of women, to begin with. Subsequently, this will certainly pave way for reservation for the backward classes women. All political parties might back the government if they had this assurance,' DMK chief M Karunanidhi said in a statement.

'It will be better to decide the quantum and the percentage of reservation for OBC women in the first instance, apart from the presently reserved ones for SC/STs,' he said.

The same refrain was heard in the BJP when senior BJP leader Uma Bharti met party president LK Advani to demand 50 per cent quota for SC, ST and OBC women within the proposed 33 per cent reservation in Parliament and state assemblies.

'I am opposed to the bill in its present form,' Bharti, who also met leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh, told reporters here.