Nitish for, Sharad against; JD-U divided on women's bill

Patna/New Delhi: Sharp divisions emerged among the opponents of the Women's Reservation Bill with Bihar Chief Nitish Kumar supporting the measure pitting himself against his party President Sharad Yadav who is opposed to it.

"When I was a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, I had given a dissent note (more than a decade ago). Now the time has come to give women reservation in Parliament and state assemblies. I will talk to Sharadji and appeal to him to ensure passage of the Bill," Kumar said in Patna.

However, JD-U President Sharad Yadav, a strong opponent of the Bill ever since its introduction in 1997, said his party's opposition to the measure in its present form would continue.

The Constitution Amendment Bill seeking to provide reservation for women in Lok Sabha and assemblies is slated to come up for consideration on Monday in Rajya Sabha, where the JD-U has seven MPs. The party also has 20 MPs in the Lok Sabha.

The Government is happily placed in the 245-member Rajya Sabha, where it has the support of 138 members of Congress, BJP and Left parties besides a number of small parties, which takes the backing to more than 165.

The special majority required in the House with an effective strength of 233 is 155.

Kumar said that it would be good if the government accepts the demand for introducing quota within quota but it would not be appropriate to block the Bill on the issue.

"Ideally, women of extremely backward and backward castes should be provided reservation in both Parliament and Assembly. We will keep our efforts on for getting it," he added.

On Kumar's stand, Yadav told reporters in Delhi that the Chief Minister had also talked to him about his "suggestion" and pointed out that he had strongly opposed the measure in the past demanding quota within quota for women belonging to backward castes.

Asked whether he was rejecting Kumar's suggestion, he evaded a direct reply saying,"the answer is in what I have said."

To a question whether the party would oppose the Bill when it comes before Rajya Sabha, Yadav said that his party's opposition was not of one day.

Yadav dared both BJP and Congress to seek passage of the Bill without issuing any whip to their members.

"If they are saying that they have majority then I challenge them not to issue any whip to their members on the issue. JD-U will also not issue a whip and then if they succeed in passing the Bill, I will be the first to accept it," Yadav said adding this will reveal to both the parties what is the internal situation in their organisations over the issue.

Yadav also stressed that it was former BJP leader Uma Bharti, who along with Nitish Kumar and few others had given her dissent to the Bill more than a decade back.

He also accused the proponents of the Bill of "bulldozing" 80 per cent of the population and said that they are the real opponents of the empowerment of women.

"We are in favour of the empowerment of the majority of women but it is being said that we are opposing it," Yadav said adding that those, who are pushing for the Bill in its present form "at the instance of some NGOs and women in Delhi" are its real opponents.