New Delhi:
While the Prime Minister met the main opponents of the Women's Bill on Tuesday morning, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has been meeting with the Congress' allies.
The idea is to ensure maximum coordination of the floor of the House for the debate and then the vote on the Women's Bill, which guarantees 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state Assemblies.
Many of the Congress' allies don't want the bill to be put to a vote without a debate. This is also the opinion of the Left and the BJP, who support the bill. Given that the bill mandates a constitutional amendment, their view is it would be unhealthy to skip a discussion in Parliament.
The main problem, however, is that MPs from Lalu and Mulayam Singh Yadav's parties have promised to disrupt the Rajya Sabha again. On Monday, they forced the House to adjourn five times, ensuring that the debate and vote could not take place.
After Lalu and Mulayam promised this morning that they will not change their stand, and continue to oppose the bill in its current form, 7 MPs responsible for yesterday's chaos have been suspended, but have refused to budge from the Rajya Sabha.
The Chairman of the House, Hamid Ansari, who is the Vice-President of India, could order marshalls to remove these MPs, but the Congress' allies have said they want to avoid ugly scenes in the House.
The idea is to ensure maximum coordination of the floor of the House for the debate and then the vote on the Women's Bill, which guarantees 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state Assemblies.
Many of the Congress' allies don't want the bill to be put to a vote without a debate. This is also the opinion of the Left and the BJP, who support the bill. Given that the bill mandates a constitutional amendment, their view is it would be unhealthy to skip a discussion in Parliament.
The main problem, however, is that MPs from Lalu and Mulayam Singh Yadav's parties have promised to disrupt the Rajya Sabha again. On Monday, they forced the House to adjourn five times, ensuring that the debate and vote could not take place.
After Lalu and Mulayam promised this morning that they will not change their stand, and continue to oppose the bill in its current form, 7 MPs responsible for yesterday's chaos have been suspended, but have refused to budge from the Rajya Sabha.
The Chairman of the House, Hamid Ansari, who is the Vice-President of India, could order marshalls to remove these MPs, but the Congress' allies have said they want to avoid ugly scenes in the House.
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