At All-party Meet, Parties Push for Women's Reservation Bill

Several parties, including from the ruling and opposition sides, on Sunday made a strong pitch for tabling and passage of the women's reservation bill during the five-day Parliament session beginning Monday.

At an all-party meeting convened by the government, several leaders said the long-pending bill should be tabled and hoped that it can be passed with consensus. The bill seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, "All opposition parties demanded the passage of women's reservation bill in this Parliament session," while 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 added.

Chowdhury while addressing the media said, "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.

Several regional parties including the BJD and the BRS also pushed for tabling of the women's reservation bill. 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.