Will NDA get support from TMC, DMK when women's quota, delimitation return in Parliament monsoon session?
The NDA stands to gain if Opposition MPs support it, especially as key parties like the TMC and DMK push against a fracturing INDIA bloc
The NDA stands to gain if Opposition MPs support it, especially as key parties like the TMC and DMK push against a fracturing INDIA bloc.
The NDA stands to gain if Opposition MPs support it, especially as key parties like the TMC and DMK push against a fracturing INDIA bloc.
The NDA stands to gain if Opposition MPs support it, especially as key parties like the TMC and DMK push against a fracturing INDIA bloc.
About a month after the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill for women's reservation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies was shot down, the NDA government has indicated that it is ready to try again amid fractures in the INDIA bloc.
For this, the NDA has set its sights on the next monsoon session of the Parliament, where it plans to bring up the bills again—this time, with possible backing from sections of the Opposition, such as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
The government is “very keen" on exploring possible new support from MPs across party lines, including those from regional outfits as well, a News18 report said, citing sources in the know.
The report adds that smaller regional parties on the NDA's radar for this purpose include the Sunetra Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party, as well as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
This is significant for the NDA, especially in terms of the TMC and the DMK being important parts of a fragmenting INDIA bloc.
In the case of the TMC, which is rapidly unravelling after its 2026 Assembly election loss, 20 of its 42 MPs are currently in active, high-level talks to jump ship to the BJP, as per an NDTV report.
While the possible move has sparked talk of a 'Raghav Chadha exit model' in West Bengal, it is also said to be inspired by expelled TMC leader Ritabrata Banerjee becoming the LoP in the West Bengal Assembly after leading a rebel faction of 60 MLAs.
The DMK, on the other hand, turned cold against the Congress due to what it has earlier called a "betrayal" in the same election after the national party supported C. Joseph Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) at the last moment.
In fact, this hostility was seen on Wednesday, when the DMK announced it would not be attending the INDIA bloc meeting on June 8 over the alleged betrayal.
Why the NDA move failed
The renewed push comes just months after the NDA failed to push the women's quota bill through the Parliament after it failed the special two-thirds majority condition.
Notably, the bill had cleared the first hurdle of the simple majority, but failed the special two-thirds majority condition when 230 MPs opposed it, despite 298 being in favour.
A look at the numbers revealed that it was a special 185-MP combo of the SP, TMC, and DMK that helped Congress get the bill shot down by denying it the 352 votes it needed to pass the second condition.
The proposed Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill sought to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha from 543 to 816 seats before the 2029 elections, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
What the TMC and DMK had said at the time
In general, the Opposition parties firmly opposed the fact that delimitation had been linked to the women's quota bill, who had called it the NDA's agenda to decrease the representation of the southern states in the Parliament.
As a result, despite PM Narendra Modi's guarantee that the rights of states would not be taken away, the bill failed to pass, with former Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin burning the delimitation bill going viral, and setting the tone for the Opposition's views on it.
Sections of the Opposition had even opined that they would be open to supporting women's quota if it were de-linked from the delimitation cause, but to no avail.
"Clubbing delimitation with Women’s Reservation raises serious concerns both for women and for progressive states ... If women empowerment depends on delimitation, it’s not empowerment it’s postponement!" pointed out DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi in a now-deleted X post.
However, it was criticism from the TMC MPs that went more viral on social media at the time.
"Narendra, the worst form of insulting women is to have used them as a DECOY* to try and pass the Delimitation Bill," wrote TMC MP Derek O'Brien in a brief, but sharp, post on X.
"Delimitation Wrapped in a Sari ... BJP may be Chalu (cunning), but it overplayed its hand. This is beginning of its decline... We dare BJP to bring in 33 per cent reservation for women today," TMC MP Mahua Moitra had declared in a video on X.