‘Centre playing tricks’: Kharge says opposition to vote against delimitation, backs women’s quota

Opposition parties, including AAP, have decided to jointly oppose the delimitation provisions in a Constitution amendment Bill while supporting women’s reservation. Mallikarjun Kharge called the move politically motivated and accused the government of misusing the delimitation process

New Delhi: Several opposition parties have decided to unitedly vote against the delimitation provisions in the Constitution amendment Bill in Parliament, while asserting that they are not against women’s reservation but opposed to the manner in which the Bill is being brought, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Wednesday.

The leaders of several constituents of the I.N.D.I.A bloc, besides the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), met at Kharge’s residence here on Wednesday to evolve a joint strategy during the three-day special sitting of Parliament starting Thursday, during which the women reservation Bill, along with the Constitution amendment Bill, will be taken up for consideration and passage.

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“All of us are in favour of the women reservation Bill, but have reservations on the way in which it is being brought. It is politically motivated. Just to gag and suppress opposition parties, the government is doing this….

“We are continuously supporting women’s reservation. We are insisting that an earlier amendment that was passed be implemented. They (the BJP-led government) are playing tricks with delimitation. Therefore, all parties have taken a decision unitedly to oppose this Bill,” Kharge said after the meeting.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the manner in which the Delimitation Commission is functioning, “it is clear that it has become a tool to win majority for the ruling party”.

“We are totally against the delimitation move. Women’s reservation should be implemented, but we are totally against delimitation,” he said.

Besides Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, the other leaders at the meeting included DMK’s T R Baalu, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, Trinamool Congress’s Sagarika Ghosh, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Sanjay Raut and Arvind Sawant, and NCP-SCP’s Spriya Sule, with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav joining virtually.

CPI leader Annie Raja, CPI-M’s Nilotpal Basu, AAP leader Sanjay Singh, Independent MP Kapil Sibal, IUML’s E T Mohammed Bashir and RSP’s N K Premachandran also attended the meeting, other than Congress general secretaries K C Venugopal and Ramesh.

The special three-day sitting of Parliament will be held from April 16 to 18, during which amendments to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, commonly known as the Women’s Reservation Act, mandating 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, will be brought for implementation in 2029.