NCP (SP) MPs should convey INDIA bloc's stand on women's quota to PM: Cong
Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant on Sunday, August 9, urged NCP (SP) MPs to firmly convey to Prime Minister Narendra Modi the Opposition INDIA bloc's position that the 2023 women's reservation law should be implemented immediately and not linked to delimitation.
Sawant's remarks came after it was announced that MPs of the Opposition NCP (SP) will meet Modi on Monday to raise issues concerning Maharashtra.
"The INDIA alliance's unequivocal position is that the Women's Reservation Bill, passed in 2023, must be implemented immediately and should not be linked to delimitation," Sawant said in a post on X.
He urged the NCP (SP) MPs to make the Opposition's stand clear during their meeting with the prime minister and stressed the need to maintain unity among INDIA bloc parties on the issue.
"It is important that the unity of the INDIA alliance and its opposition to the Modi government on this issue is made unequivocally clear," he said.
The government is making a fresh attempt in the ongoing Monsoon Session to pass a Constitution Amendment Bill that would implement 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures from 2029 and redraw Lok Sabha constituencies to increase their number to 816, by reaching out to Opposition leaders and NDA allies. The bill was defeated in the last session.
The Congress and the BJP sparred on Saturday over the women's quota and delimitation bills. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had said no country could be successful if its women did not express themselves, prompting Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to call it a "visible change of heart" and express hope that the Congress would support the proposed legislation "unconditionally."
(Inputs from PTI)
