TRS may abstain during voting on triple talaq bill in Lok Sabha

Hyderabad, June 26: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) may abstain during voting on the triple bill in Lok Sabha, a senior party leader said on Wednesday.

The TRS, led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, had adopted the same strategy in December last year. "Last year, we participated (in the debate) and skipped (voting), this time also we may do the same," the leader said, on condition of anonymity.

"I think, opposing it (the bill) will create some problems, supporting it will also create some problems," he told PTI.

The central government introduced the fresh triple talaq bill in the Lok Sabha last Friday. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2019 became the first legislation to be tabled in Parliament by the Narendra Modi-led government in its second term.

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had asserted the legislation was a must for gender equality and justice. Hyderabad Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi of the AIMIM, an ally of the TRS, is vehemently opposed to the bill.

TRS, which has nine members in the Lok Sabha and six in the Rajya Sabha, said recently it would give issue-based support to the BJP-led NDA government, similar to what it did in its previous term.

The Telangana Congress had Tuesday demanded that the ruling TRS make its stand clear on the triple talaq bill. The TRS had supported the BJP-led NDA government by abstaining during voting on the bill in Lok Sabha last December, the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee minorities wing chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail said.

"TRS should make its stand clear on whether it was in favour of the bill or against it. TRS cannot simply go into hiding to facilitate the BJP government pass the bill in Parliament," he said.

Sohail asked Rao to direct his party MPs to oppose the bill in Parliament if his outfit was against it.