NCP-SP may back NDA over women’s quota, delimitation

The BJP-led NDA is likely to get a boost for crucial Bills, including the pending delimitation Bill scheduled to be introduced during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which begins from Monday, with former Union Minister Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party — Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) mulling support for the ruling alliance. The NCP-SP has eight MPs in Lok Sabha, while one in Rajya Sabha held by the party supremo himself.

The NDA has already claimed support of breakaway factions of major regional parties such as the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Shiv Sena and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) into its fold. Sources said the DMK, which recently broke ties with the Congress, may also extend their support to the Union Government in bringing the legislations.

The speculations of NCP-SP backing the NDA grew stronger following a meeting of leaders from the ruling NCP in Maharashtra and NCP-SP at the residence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis late Tuesday night.

NCP-SP Parliamentary wing leader Supriya Sule, however, said that her party has not taken any official position on the proposed delimitation Bill.

She said if the proposed legislation were based on a uniform 50 per cent increase in seats across all States, there would be little reason to oppose it. She, however, stressed that any decision on supporting such a proposal would be taken only after discussions within the INDIA bloc.

Addressing a press conference, Sule said she was clarifying the matter after consulting NCP-SP top leadership, including party president Sharad Pawar and senior leader Jayant Patil, to avoid any misunderstanding among workers of the party and the Opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The NCP-SP leader said she had also spoken to Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal, Congress leader Satej Patil and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on the issue.

She added that the party had not received any written proposal from the Centre regarding the delimitation exercise and, therefore, could not take a formal stand at this stage.

Recalling earlier discussions on the issue, Sule said that after Parliament passed the Women’s Reservation Bill unanimously, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had invited her, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant and AIMIM Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi for consultations on delimitation. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also present at the meeting, she said.

She said the Opposition had written to the Centre under the leadership of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge seeking a collective discussion on the proposal instead of holding separate consultations with individual parties.

The Union Government intends to bring the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill proposing to raise Lok Sabha seats to 850 and initiate delimitation in the Monsoon session of Parliament starting July 20.

Meanwhile, NDA Parliamentary Party meeting has been scheduled on first day of the Monsoon Session on Monday in the Parliament House. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the MPs. The meeting is called to discuss legislative strategies and floor management ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which spans from July 20 to August 13. The Government has also called an all-party meeting on Sunday.