Several opposition parties have decided to unitedly vote against the delimitation provisions in the Constitution amendment bill in Parliament, even as they asserted that they are not against women's reservation but opposed to the manner in which the bill is being brought in.
On the eve of a special three-day sitting of Parliament, top opposition leaders, on Wednesday, met at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to discuss and evolve a joint strategy over the women's quota law and delimitation.
Leaders of the Congress, DMK, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, RJD, CPI and CPI(M) were present at the meeting at Kharge's residence.
Besides Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, the other leaders at the meeting included DMK's T.R. Baalu, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, Trinamool's Sagarika Ghosh, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Sanjay Raut and Arvind Sawant, and NCP-SCP's Spriya Sule, with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav joining virtually.
After the meeting, Kharge said the opposition alliance is not against women's reservation, but they are opposing the way the government is bringing the bills.
"All of us are in favour of the women's reservation bill, but have reservations on the way in which it is being brought. It is politically motivated. Just to gag and suppress opposition parties, the government is doing this....
"We are continuously supporting women's reservation. We are insisting that the earlier amendment that was passed be implemented. They (the BJP-led government) are playing tricks with delimitation. Therefore, all parties have taken a decision unitedly to oppose this bill," Kharge said after the meeting.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the manner in which the Delimitation Commission is functioning, "it is clear that it has become a tool to win a majority for the ruling party".
"We are totally against the delimitation move. Women's reservation should be implemented, but we are totally against delimitation," he said.
CPI leader Annie Raja said they support the women's reservation act without any conditions. "But in the name of women's reservation, if the govt wants to bring any anti-constitutional or federal agenda, then we are not in favour of it. We have seen how the boundaries of constituencies in J&K and Assam have been made. It is on a communal basis. This means the govt has a fascist hidden agenda, and they want to use the Women's Reservation Bill; they want to bring it. We are against it. We only support the women's reservation bill."
