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Congress in tight spot over Bill in LS
Nidhi Sharma | New Delhi
Faces flak for use of marshals in RS; Pranab reaches out to Opp
With the Opposition determined not to allow the Government to bulldoze opponents of the women’s quota Bill in Lok Sabha with the help of marshals, the Government faces a major challenge in evolving any sort of consensus to get the Bill passed in the Lower House. As a first step toward reaching out to the opponents of the Bill, the Government assured it will hold wider discussions with them before tabling it in the Lok Sabha.
Both the BJP and Shiv Sena categorically told the Government on Thursday that they would oppose any move to repeat what happened in the Rajya Sabha when MPs were thrown out of the House with the help of marsals to facilitate a debate.
“Forget about use of force to throw MPs out of the House, we would not even agree to debate or voting in the presence of marshals. They should be kept out,” Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told reporters after meeting of BJP MPs at the residence of NDA’s working chairman LK Advani here on Thursday.
Party leaders say instead of using force, the Government should “tire out” the agitating MPs, who do not want the Bill to be passed in the present form. “There is a way of doing anything. You cannot throw them out like that. If you have named them and they are not ready to go out, just tire them out. Do not fix any deadline and be flexible,” Sushma told the Government.
While Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete said his party will not allow the Bill to be passed in the Lok Sabha with the use of marshals and force, BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde asked the Government to express regret for restoring to such bulldozing tactics to deal with the MPs.
“We will strongly oppose it,” Anant Geete, leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, told reporters here.
Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is also opposed to the use of marshals. She had made known her reservations about the use of force to deal with MPs even before the Bill came up for passing in the Rajya sabha on Tuesday. She clearly stated that using marshals would not be a democratic practice and the Government would be setting a wrong precedent.
Sensing the mounting anger in the Opposition rank, which could have also created trouble in the passage of the finance Bill, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee reached out to the Opposition parties and the UPA allies.
On Thursday as the Government stared at another day of disruptions and adjournments in the Lok Sabha, Congress’s chief troubleshooter Pranab Mukherjee sought the BJP’s opinion to end the impasse and talked to Arun Jaitely and Sushma Swaraj, the party’s leaders in both the Houses. The BJP’s message was clear — ‘let’s talk to everyone and get them on board’. Mukherjee then called a meeting of Trinamool Congress, DMK and NCP and the Yadav trio. Mamata, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, DMK leader TR Baalu, Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sharad Yadav were present in the meeting.
The Yadav trio insisted that the Government should hold an all-party meeting to resolve the crisis. After a 90-minute long meeting, the Government finally caved in to pressure. And when the House met again at 2 pm, Mukherjee came out with a carefully-worded statement. “Some sort of assurance was sought on the progress of the Constitution Amendment Bill (women’s quota Bill). Before bringing it in the Lok Sabha, the Government will complete the process of consultations with all concerned.”
“I think, this assurance would assuage the feelings of all members who would allow financial business in the remaining period,” he said.
The Government’s strategy seemed to be to get the financial business, including voting on appropriation Bills, done before the Lok Sabha adjourns for more than a three-week recess during the current Budget session.
The BJP, which drew flak from the RJD, SP and ally JD(U) for not objecting to agitating MPs being marshalled out of the Rajya Sabha, tried to reach out to these parties by assuring it would not allow debate or voting in the presence of marshals in the Lok Sabha.
Shiv Sena, an ally of NDA which voted for the women’s reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, also said it will oppose it if marshals were called in and force was used to pass the measure in the Lok Sabha.
“We will not allow the Bill to be passed in the Lok Sabha with the use of marshals and force. We will strongly oppose it,” Anant Geete said.
Criticising the Government for the use of marshals in the Rajya Sabha for removing seven members, Geete said the way it was done reminded him of the Emergency imposed by Benito Mussolini in Italy.
Opposing the Bill in its present form, Geete alleged the Government was hardly interested in the welfare of women but only wanted to take credit for the legislation. Senior party leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi said the party is not opposed to 33 per cent reservation for women but constituencies should not be reserved and instead it should be made mandatory for the parties to give 33 per cent reservation to women.
“Our party has made it clear that it supports 33 per cent reservation. But parties should decide and reserve this and constituencies should not be reserved,” Joshi said, seeking an amendment in the Bill.
Asked what the party would do if the Government brought the Bill in the same form in the Lower House, he replied, “We will decide the strategy when the Bill is brought in the Lok Sabha.”
Asked about the divergent views of its ally BJP and Sena on the Bill, Geete said they would talk to the BJP on this and expects the party to support its point of view. To a query whether there could be problems within the NDA due to its stand on the Bill, Geete said, “It will have no impact. BJP has its views and we have our own views”.
To a question whether the party had a different stand in the Rajya Sabha when it voted in favour of the Bill and in the Lok Sabha where it wants amendments in the Bill, Joshi said that in the Lower House, the party will make efforts to see that constituencies are not reserved as it affects development and only parties reserve 33 per cent seats for women.
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