All-party meeting: Women's reservation bill pushed by regional parties
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New Delhi: Several parties—from both the ruling and opposition sides—on Sunday made a strong case for the women's reservation law to be introduced and passed during the five-day session of Parliament that will begin on Monday.
Several party leaders asserted at an all-party meeting called by the government that the long-pending law should be put on the table and hoped that it would be approved by a majority. The BJD and the BRS are among the regional parties that advocated for the women's reservation bill to be introduced, PTI reported.
The bill seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies. "All opposition parties demanded the passage of women's reservation bill in this Parliament session," Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said.
BJP ally and NCP leader Praful Patel said, "We appeal to govt to pass the women's reservation bill in this Parliament session. We are hopeful that women's reservation bill will be passed with consensus if tabled in Parliament."
Patel also said that the Parliament will move to the new building on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi on Tuesday.
Chowdhury told reporters that the government had informed them it was a regular session of Parliament.
"Only the government knows what its intention is. It may surprise everyone with some new agenda," he said, adding that issues such as price rise, unemployment, the situation on the border with China were raised by his party in the meeting.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the deputy leader of the House in Lok Sabha; Union Minister Piyush Goyal, the leader of the House in Rajya Sabha; and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi represented the government in the meeting.
Former prime minister and JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowda, DMK's Kanimozhi, TDP's Ram Mohan Naidu, TMC's Derek O'Brien, AAP's Sanjay Singh, BJD's Sasmit Patra, BRS' K Keshava Rao, YSR Congress Party's V Vijayasai Reddy, RJD's Manoj Jha and JD(U)'s Anil Hegde and SP's Ram Gopal Yadav were also among those who attended the meeting.