New Delhi, March 9
Upset with the UPA government for ignoring their plea to provide quota within quota in the Women’s Reservation Bill, the RJD and the SP plan to move a no-confidence motion against it.
Soon after Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari got seven SP and RJD MPs thrown out of the Upper House through the marshals today, RJD leader Lalu Prasad got in touch with SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav to decide on their strategy to take on the government.
A party MP confirming the development said: “We (SP and RJD) are planning to move a no-confidence motion against the government shortly. We are in touch with other like- minded parties and would disclose our full strategy only after holding wider consultations.”
Sources said they are also counting on the support of JD-U in Lok Sabha. JD-U chief Sharad Yadav is also opposing the Women’s Bill on the same grounds and his MPs in the Lower House today came into the Well raising slogans along with RJD and SP MPs. In Rajya Sabha, most JD-U MPs owing allegiance to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar supported the Bill.Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav had announced withdrawal of support to the UPA government yesterday. Sources said they are planning to seek an appointment with President Pratibha Patil to give to her their letter
of withdrawal of support to the government.
“But that is now merely a matter of detail because once we move a no-confidence motion, there would be no ambiguity in our opposition to the government,” said a source in the RJD.
The day remained cloudy for the Yadav triumvirate, who failed to persuade Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this morning to defer or drop the Women’s Reservation Bill. On the other hand, a last-minute effort by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to dissuade Lalu from opposing the Bill also failed. She is reported to have told Lalu: “Passage first, amendment later.”
The three seeking amendments to the 1996 legislation to include quota within quota, demanded an all-party meeting and threatened trouble for UPA if all voices were not heard.
“Hamne Pradhan Mantri se kaha hai ke is darpan mein sabke chehre aane chahiya…(I have urged upon the PM that the faces of Muslim, OBC and Dalit women should also be reflected in the mirror of reservation,” Lalu Yadav said, getting poetic, as he emerged from 7, Race Course Road today.
Sharad Yadav, too, supported
his Yadav brethren saying, “The government can’t push the law without a debate; it must call an all-party
meeting.”
