Government confident women's bill will clear Lok Sabha

A day after the historic bill to reserve one-third of all legislative seats in India for women was cleared by the Rajya Sabha, the government's flagship legislation Wednesday continued to disrupt the Lok Sabha where ministers said it would be passed by March 16.

After smelling the first victory in the upper house over the Women's Reservation Bill, the government appeared confident that the proposed bill will clear the next hurdle and sail through the Lok Sabha despite opposition from the parties with their support base in the Hindi heartland of northern India.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.K. Bansal said it would be passed in the lower house before March 16 when parliament goes for a three-week recess and resumes April 12.

'We intend to get the bill passed in the Lok Sabha before March 16,' Bansal told IANS.

Official sources said the Business Advisory Committee of the Lok Sabha will meet Friday to decide tabling of the bill in the house next week.

The Trinamool Congress, which is a ruling ally of the Congress and abstained from the Tuesday vote, expressed its unhappiness over the bill.

Why was there was no reservation for women in the Rajya Sabha, party chief Mamata Banerjee, also the railway minister, questioned. Banerjee told reporters her party supported the bill in principle but would discuss the stand to be taken in the Lok Sabha when the bill came up there.

As the Trinamool's, which has crucial 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha and is the biggest ally of the UPA, stand remains unclear, Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily said

'the government will manage to get the support of all its allies. We will manage the family.'

Demands over the withdrawal of suspension of seven dissenters who were muscled out by marshals from the Rajya Sabha Tuesday also grew Wednesday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left parties, which support the bill, also called for revocation of the suspension of the members mainly from the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) who were suspended and evicted for unruly behaviour in the upper house.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said the government should bring a motion and withdraw the suspension. He said the members should meet chairman Hamid Ansari and 'make amends for what happened'.

He was supported by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury.

But the parliamentary affairs minister said the government would consider the revocation only if the suspended MPs express their regrets to the chairman.

'It (the suspension) was a well considered action as they (the members) had insulted the dignity of the house. The minimum thing is to go to the chairman,' Bansal told reporters.

RJD member Prem Chand Gupta disagreed saying it was not correct to insist on an apology from the members as 'whatever happened, took place in particular circumstances'.

The issue rocked the Lok Sabha which was adjourned for the day after SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Janata Dal-United president Sharad Yadav and RJD leader Lalu Prasad staged noisy protests.

BJP's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde told reporters that the government should 'not lower the dignity of the house' by bringing in marshals. Munde said the government should bring a motion to withdraw the suspension.

The Yadav trinity reiterated their opposition to the women's bill demanding that the proposed legislation should have a quota for women from the Dalit, tribal and minority communities.