By IANS,
New Delhi: Even as Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar called an all-party meeting Wednesday to discuss the women’s reservation bill, the parties opposing it made it clear that they will not change their stand unless the government modifies the bill.
The bill provides for 33 percent reservation for women in parliament and the state assemblies. It is being opposed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Janata Dal-United (JD-U), who want a quota within the quota for women from other backward classses (OBCs).
“Our stand remains unchanged, but if the government gives some fresh proposal, we will consider it,” said a spokesperson from the JD-U, whose Lok Sabha leader Ram Sundar Das attended the meeting.
“Our stand has been same since day one, we want a reservation for OBC women, and we will stand by it,” a senior RJD leader told IANS.
The bill, which was passed by the Rajya Sabha last March, has the support of the ruling Congress and its allies in the United Progressive Alliance, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties.
While leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and senior leader L.K. Advani represented the BJP at the meeting, the CPI-M was represented by Basudeb Acharia.