JAIPUR, July 11: Congress president Sonia Gandhi today asked the Vajpayee Government to ensure that the Parliament approved the Women's Reservation Bill, which is being opposed by several Opposition parties as also a section of Muslim MPs.``It is the responsibility of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition Government at the Centre to get the bill passed in the current session of the Parliament,'' Sonia Gandhi said, addressing a women's conference on the second day of her visit here.She said that Congress would support the bill, which provides for 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state legislatures. The Government is to move the bill in Parliament on Monday.Muslim MPs belonging to Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samajwadi Party, National Conference and Muslim League, at a meeting in New Delhi yesterday had said they would block the bill in its present form. Sonia Gandhi urged the women's Congress to not only fight against suppression and exploitation of women butalso prepare women workers to share the responsibilities in panchayats and municipal bodies in a more effective manner - where 33 per cent reservation is already available to them.Meanwhile, in Bhubaneswar, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has extended ``whole-hearted support'' for the Women's Reservation Bill, party sources said.The party's support was extended by BJD president and Union Steel and Mines Minister Naveen Patnaik at the all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Delhi yesterday, sources said.
