New Delhi: There has been a new start to the 15th Lok Sabha with an old promise.
Apart from putting the Women's Reservation Bill on its 100 days agenda, the UPA also promised 50 per cent reservation for women at the Panchayat-level elections.
Announced President Pratibha Patil: "Government will ensure that women's reservation bill is passed in 100 days."
The Women's Reservation Bill was first introduced in September 1996 and since then it's been reintroduced 3 more times. Staunch opposition from players like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Yadav and Sharad Yadav has always come in the way of its passage.
Even on Thursday, they stuck to their earlier stand of asking for quota within quota.
Says Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav: "We will discuss with our colleagues within our party."
Sharad Yadav, president of Janata Dal United, wants "quota within quota...just the way we have done it in Bihar."
The Women's Reservation Bill is a Constitutional amendment bill and needs a 2/3rd majority in both the Houses to get it passed.
In Lok Sabha, where the government has a clear majority, it needs the support of 364 MPs.
In Rajya Sabha, the UPA needs the support of 153 MPs. But the UPA is short of a majority in the Upper House.
So will the government manage this time what's been stuck for the last 14 years? Do they have the numbers to pass the women's reservation bill.
Says BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu: "In principle, we support the women's reservation bill."
Says CPM leader Brinda Karat: "We welcome it and I want to assure the government that my party will support whenever they bring the bill."
After ensuring the first woman President and the first woman Lok Sabha Speaker, UPA is all set on women's reservation. But the key question will it find political support this time around.