BRS to focus on women’s quota, but is also views session as a ‘stunt’

Hyderabad, Sep 16(SocialNews.XYZ) The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) is gearing up to raise the issues of 33 per cent reservation for women and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Parliament and state legislatures during the special session beginning on September 19.

The BRS, which is not part of either the BJP-led NDA or the opposition INDIA alliance, has chalked out its own strategy for the session, though it considers this as a stunt by the Central government to showcase the new Parliament building.

At a meeting chaired by party president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the BRS Parliamentary Party passed two resolutions about the quota for women and OBCs.

After the meeting, KCR -- as the Chief Minister is popularly known, sent two letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to initiate necessary legislative process in the upcoming special session of the Parliament to implement 33 per cent reservations each for women and OBCs in Parliament and state legislatures.

KCR wrote that the Telangana state legislature on June 14, 2014 had passed unanimous resolutions, requesting the Government of India to provide for 33 per cent reservation for OBCs and women in Parliament and state legislatures.

“I am dismayed to note that the government of India has not initiated any action on this front so far,” he wrote.

The BRS chief mentioned that the visionary architects of the Constitution have envisaged suitable provisions for affirmative action by the state to correct historical wrongs that were done to socially and educationally marginalized sections of the society.

“Part of this objective was achieved by providing for reservations for OBCs in public employment and admissions in educational institutions. However, as you would agree with me, proportionate representation in Parliament and state legislatures is a sine qua non in a democratic polity to reflect hopes and aspirations of marginalized sections of the society."

In another letter, KCR informed Modi that Telangana government is implementing 30 per cent reservation for women in public employment and admissions in educational institutions.

“However, suitable representation in Parliament and state legislatures is required in a democratic polity to reflect hopes and aspirations of marginalized sections of the society,” he added.

The BRS parliamentary party’s decision on women’s reservation comes close on the heels of party leader and KCR's daughter, K.  Kavitha’s appeal to all political parties to support the Women's Reservation Bill in the upcoming special session of the Parliament.

The push comes amid the buzz in political circles that the Bill may be tabled in the special session.

Kavitha has sent letters to as many as 47 political parties urging them to unite and pass the long-awaited Bill.

The former MP from Nizamabad addressed the letters to all, irrespective of their political ideology. Political observers say that this is the first time that a leader has tried to reach out to all on the Women's Reservation Bill which seeks to reserve 33 per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women.

“The upcoming special session of Parliament presents a unique opportunity for us, as representatives of the people, to take a historic step forward. It is my sincere hope that all political parties in India will rise above partisan interests and unite in support of the Women’s Reservation Bill, which has languished in legislative limbo for far too long,” she wrote.

Kavitha also found fault with Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi for not including the Bill in issues mentioned in her letter to Prime Minister Modi for a debate during the special session.

"Saddened to see that the urgency for discussing the Women's Reservation Bill was completely ignored in Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson and MP Smt. Sonia Gandhi Ji's letter to the Prime Minister,” she said.

"In your letter to Prime Minister Modi, we find 9 crucial issues, but why not the Women’s Reservation Bill? Isn't women's representation a national imperative?"

KCR’s son K. T. Rama Rao, who is working president of BRS and a state minister, has slammed the Modi government for not revealing the agenda of the special session.

“Only two people know what will happen in Parliament session,” he said, calling the session a stunt.

Amid reports that the Modi government may use the special session to push for one nation one election, KTR termed it a cheap political gimmick.

“One nation one poll is a diversionary tactic as top BJP leaders have realized that the party is going to lose in all the five states where elections are due in next few months,” he said.

“Modi couldn’t deliver promises he had to by 2022, so he is coming out with such diversionary tactics of one nation one election or India-Bharat,” he said

The BRS leader said ;one nation one election; is not a new idea.

“Modi has been talking about it for the last few years,” he said and wondered why he did not go ahead with his plans in 2019 itself.

On what stand the BRS will take on one nation one election if the issue comes up in the special session, KTR remarked that there is word on the agenda from the government and that it is being discussed only in the media and by some leaders. “BRS will cross the bridge when we come to it,” he said.

BRS had backed the concept when it was first discussed in 2018. It had favored simultaneous elections to Parliament and state assemblies saying this will save time and money.

However, the same year BRS went for early elections to the state assembly, which were originally scheduled along with the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

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Source: IANS