Cong will not leave Centre with choice on Women''s Reservation Bill: Rahul

New Delhi, December 13

Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday made a strong pitch for the empowerment of women by passing a bill in Parliament providing a 33 per cent reservation to them and told the Centre that his party would not leave it with any choice in the matter.

Addressing a daylong workshop organised by the Congress' women's wing here, Gandhi underscored the important role women had to play in "transforming" the Grand Old Party of India.

"You (government) will have to give the women reservation. The Congress party will not leave you with any choice," he said.

The Congress has been pushing for the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill, which has been languishing in the Lok Sabha.

The Bill envisages a 33-per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and all the state legislative assemblies.

Gandhi's mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September, reminding him that the bill had already been passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power. PTI