The Hindu : National : BJP will back quota for women: Advani

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BJP will back quota for women: Advani

Staff Reporter

If you have the political will, bring in the Bill, Venkaiah Naidu tells UPA government

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

Women power: Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L.K. Advani and Sushma Swaraj at a women’s rally in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Thursday reiterated the party’s commitment to provide 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and State Assemblies and demanded that the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre fulfil its commitment on the issue at the earliest.

Participating in a rally organised by the BJP’s Mahila Morcha on the Ramlila Grounds here, senior party leader L.K. Advani said: “Ideally there should be 50 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and the State Assemblies, but we will be happy to back the government at the Centre if they are serious about bringing in 33 per cent reservation. Reservation is the only item on the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA government for women, sadly they haven’t been able to deliver even on that one promise.”

The rally was attended by Rajnath Singh, M. Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj, Najma Heptullah, Kiran Maheshwari, Sumitra Mahajan and Smriti Irani, among others. Demanding that women be given equal opportunity in deciding the future of the country, Mr. Singh said: “Thirty-three per cent reservation is the right of the Indian women and it is something that had been promised to them.”

Accusing the UPA government of betraying not just the trust of women but also the common man, farmers and the youth, Mr. Naidu, in his message to the UPA, said: “If you have the political will, bring the Bill.”

Adding that the issue had taken 10 steps backwards after the Congress-led coalition came to power at the Centre, Ms. Swaraj said: “The government at the Centre has not even managed to put together a draft of the Bill. We now demand that by next year the Centre should bring in the Bill allowing more women to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.”

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