BJP with Mulayam: Seat share at party level

Mulayam Singh Yadav8217;s lone voice on the Women8217;s Reservation Bill two days ago, at the UPA-allies meet, became the majority voice a...

Mulayam Singh Yadav8217;s lone voice on the Women8217;s Reservation Bill two days ago, at the UPA-allies meet, became the majority voice at today8217;s consensus-building exercise between the Government and the NDA.

At a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to evolve a consensus on the issue, the BJP-led Opposition came out in favour of the M S Gill formula8212;the former Election Commissioner had suggested 33 per cent reservation for women within the political party system at the ticket distribution stage.

Citing 8216;8216;the lack of consensus in either the UPA or the NDA8217;8217; as the reason for BJP8217;s flip-flop on the bill, BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra said, 8216;8216;The government formula of increasing the strength of Parliament would take till 2009, whereas the Election Commission formula would not require a Constitutional amendment and can be implemented immediately.8217;8217;

All that the EC formula needs, Malhotra argued, is a small modification in the Representation of People8217;s Act.8216;8216;We will not stand in the way of any formula. But consensus can only be on this reserving party tickets for women,8217;8217; he said. 8216;8216;Such a major step cannot be taken without consensus of even the smallest parties, majority vote cannot used to pass this bill.8221;

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who attended today8217;s meeting, and BJP8217;s senior leader Sushma Swaraj also favoured the EC strategy.

In the absence of a consensus, Swaraj was of the view that reservation at the party level would at least ensure that 20 to 25 per cent of women candidates would get elected. At present, there are hardly 8 per cent women representatives in the Lok Sabha.

The JDU, represented by party chief George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar pointed out that if the bill was introduced in its original form, it would demand sub-quota for women belonging to these categories.

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Coming in support of the EC formula, Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete and AGP8217;s Arun Sharma, said, 8216;8216;The Prime Minister has assured us there would be no move on the bill without a consensus. The party8217;s agreed that it is better to make it mandatory to give 33 per cent tickets to women candidates.8217;8217;

Beside, the PM, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad attended the meeting.