New Delhi: Even as the opposition exchanged verbal volleys with Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led regime against the three farm laws, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Saturday urged the Union Government to have the Women's Reservation Bill passed in this Budget Session.
On behalf of the Biju Janata Dal, senior Lok Sabha MP Pinaki Misra stated his party chief and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has requested the government to pass this bill while highlighting that several parties, including the Congress, have pushed for the same.
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Misra said Patnaik is “happy that Odisha is the only state in the country to have 1/3rd women MPs in Lok Sabha”.
“Biju Janata Dal gave 7 out of 21 MP tickets to women in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, being the only political party to have done so. Five of the BJD women MPs won and so did 2 BJP MPs,” he said in the all-party meeting ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament.
The BJD MP further said both the BJP and Congress have publicly backed this Women's Reservation Bill along with a number of political parties, including the YSR Congress and TRS
“Therefore it should be no problem to pass this in Lok Sabha. Rajya Sabha has already passed it almost 10 years back,” he added and asserted the Odisha Chief Minister “feels that the time has come when the Lok Sabha must pass it”.
The Women's Reservation Bill, ensuring 33 percent reservation to women in Parliament and state legislative bodies, was passed in the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010.