By IANS,
New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Nitish Kumar Saturday admitted that there was “an honest difference of opinion” between him and party president Sharad Yadav on the women’s reservation bill.
Nitish Kumar added that members of the JD-U parliamentary party will take a decision on the legislation when it is taken up for voting in the Lok Sabha.
Nitish Kumar, who interacted with reporters at the Indian Women’s Press Club for almost two hours, said the MPs of his party had supported the bill in the Rajya Sabha. The bill provides 33 percent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
He said that a quota for weaker sections within the 33 percent reservation for women was a long standing demand of the party and Yadav was rooting for it.
Nitish Kumar said he too was sticking to the demand but had reconsidered his opinion after seeing the impact of the 50 percent reservation for women in the local bodies provided in the state. He said Bihar was the first state in the country to provide 50 percent reservation to women in local bodies.
“I saw the impact of reservation, how women from all sections – Hindus, minorities, SCs (Scheduled Castes), STs (Scheduled Tribes) came out. I reconsidered my stance on the bill,” he said.
Nitish Kumar said that efforts to provide a sub-quota for women from the weaker sections can continue after the bill is passed. “We will keep making efforts in that direction after the bill is passed,” he said.
“I have made an appeal (in favour of the bill). Members of the parliamentary party will examine the issue and decide,” he said.
Nitish Kumar said he hoped the government will bring the bill in the Lok Sabha as it has been passed by the Rajya Sabha.
Answering a query, he said that differences of opinion with Yadav were limited to the bill.
Asked about the proposed food security bill, he said the government should appoint an independent commission to determine the number of families to be covered under it.
He also warned that without clarity on the number of beneficiary families, there could be a blame game between political parties.
He said a possibility to move forward on the bill was that the central government fixes the criteria for selecting eligible families and allows state governments to determine the number of beneficiaries.
He said the draft food security bill, which is currently being re-examined by empowered group of ministers, had provisions for covering 65 lakh families in the state but the number of below poverty line families enumerated by other criterion was more than double that number.