Agenda to link delimitation with women's reservation failed, says Congress MP

Congress MP KC Venugopal said that the Opposition remains firm in its support for womens reservation on Saturday while accusing the government of attempting to link the issue with delimitation during discussions on the Constitution 131st Amendment Bill in the Lok SabhaExplaining the Oppositions stand Venugopal said the core objection was to what he described as an attempt to mix two separate issues He said Their agenda to link delimitation with womens reservation failed yesterday Womens reservation never failed Their agenda to link delimitation with womens reservation failedHe further alleged that the governments intent behind delimitation was selective and politically driven Venugopal said Because they want to do a delimitation according to their convenience like Assam and JammuKashmir they want to cut short the entire constituency according to their convenience That has failedVenugopal argued that any major constitutional promise should be backed by a formal legislative commitment Raising questions on the 50 per cent formula being discussed the leader said Where was the guarantee given If the guarantee was there they could have come with an official amendment of the government Why not thatVenugopal also reiterated the Oppositions demand on implementation saying We demand to implement Women Reservation with the existing 543 strengthHe maintained that the Oppositions position was not against womens reservation but against what he called procedural and structural linking of the Bill with delimitation and other related issuesFormer Rajasthan Chief Minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot also alleged the failure of the Constitution 131st Amendment Bill calling it a political move and a wellthoughtout conspiracy by the governmentSpeaking to ANI Gehlot explained that it was a political move by the government In my view it was a political move by Mr Modi and Mr Amit Shah which shouldnt have happened They misled the whole country and created such conditions that this amendment wouldnt pass in this Parliament so they could then blame the oppositionHe added that discussions should have been held with state leadership as well saying If they had started this process and then called the Chief Ministers of the southern states and West Bengal Prime Minister Modi should have spoken to them directly and convinced them They should have called an allparty meeting for an open discussionCriticising the urgency around the Bill he said What was the rush for 10 12 or 15 days that you couldnt even wait You could have called the meeting after the 29thGehlot also alleged political intent behind the process saying They created these conditions themselves so it wouldnt pass and they could blame the opposition and the Congress Party People understand this and it wont make a difference People know their tacticsOn the same matter Communist Party of India Marxist MP John Brittas strongly criticised the Centre alleging that the government was attempting to mislead the country on womens reservationReacting to the developments in Parliament Brittas said the opposition unity ensured that the governments attempt to push its agenda did not succeed He said The dubious diabolical game of the Modi government has fallen flat on the floor of the parliamentAlleging that the government had no substantive plan for womens empowerment he further said The country has realised that this government has nothing substantive to give to the women but only jumla tricks and the parliament has exposed thisBrittas also claimed that the outcome of the proceedings reflected growing resistance to the governments approach adding Here starts the downfall of the Modi government and the way in which they attempted to divide the opposition also didnt succeedThe remarks come after the BJPled government failed to secure the required twothirds majority in the Lok Sabha to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill which was linked to implementing womens reservation through delimitation In the voting held after a marathon debate 298 members supported the bill while 230 opposed it leading to its defeatThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever