Sonia Gandhi Likely To Be Main Speaker Of Congress For Debate On Womens Reservation Bill

NEW DELHI: Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will most likely be the lead speaker of Congress for the debate on Women’s Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, said sources. The Congress party is currently locked in a fierce war of words with the ruling BJP over credit for bringing the bill on women’s reservation in Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies. The Women’s Reservation Bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, sparked outrage in the Opposition ranks. The Congress dubbed it as an “election jumla” and flagged the need to publish the 2021 census before the Lok Sabha elections. Party leaders asserted that it would take several years for the reservation to come into effect even as LoP Malliarjun Kharge noted that a similar bill had come close to passing in 2010.

“What about it? It’s ours. Apna hain,” Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said on Tuesday.

Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will likely be the lead speaker of Congress for the debate on Women’s Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha tomorrow: Sources

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— ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2023

She made these remarks while entering the Parliament for a historic joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as both houses convene their first session in the newly inaugurated Parliament building.  

According to sources, the Union Cabinet on Monday cleared the Women’s Reservation Bill, which seeks to reserve a 33 per cent quota in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies. According to official sources, the Union Cabinet Monday cleared the Women’s Reservation Bill (WRB) in a key meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “We want the Women’s Reservation Bill to be brought and passed as soon as possible. The demand for the Women’s Reservation Bill was initiated by UPA and our leader Sonia Gandhi. It took so long, but we will be happy if this is introduced.”

Earlier on Monday, the Congress General Secretary in charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said that the party has been demanding the implementation of the Constitution 108th Amendment Bill, 2008 bill for a long time.

“The Congress party has been demanding the implementation of women’s reservation for a long time. We welcome the Union Cabinet decision reportedly coming forward and look forward to the details of the Bill,” he said in a post on X.

He further added that this could have been thoroughly discussed in the all-party meeting before the special session and a consensus could have been reached instead of behind-the-scenes politics. The allocation of reserved seats shall be determined by such authority as prescribed by Parliament.

One-third of the total number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes shall be reserved for women of those groups in the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies. Reservation of seats for women shall cease to exist 15 years after the commencement of this Amendment Act.

In 2010 Rajya Sabha passed the bill but the bill lapsed as it could not be passed by Lok Sabha.