Mumbai: Toeing a line different from that
of his party on the women`s bill, senior BJP leader Gopinath
Munde has said that there should be quota for OBC women in
assemblies and the Lok Sabha and he will press his party to
take this view.
Though he described this as his "personal opinion",
Munde said "I will persevere to have my party take this view."
Addressing a gathering of OBC leaders of Maharashtra,
he said, "There is a demand by the OBC community to have an
OBC reservation in the Women`s Reservation Bill. I have
conveyed that BJP has a different stand on this issue, but I
have assured them that I will put forth this demand to my
party."
While the BJP and Left parties supported the UPA
government in passing the women`s reservation bill reserving
33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state
assemblies, parties like RJD and SP staunchly opposed it.
The BJP is against any quota within quota in the Bill.
Munde`s statement at the function that he was willing
to work under the leadership of NCP`s Chhagan Bhujbal for the
rights of OBCs has created also a buzz in state`s political
circles.
Sharing the dais with Bhujbal, he also demanded that
other backward classes count be included during the ongoing
census exercise.
"OBC count should be included in the census. It was
not being done because some people fear OBCs will come
together once they know their true strength," Munde said.
There are 340 castes among the OBCs, who constitute
nearly 54 per cent of the country`s population. There is a
need for the OBC census, Bhujbal said.
Munde shared the stage with Bhujbal a week after he
remarked that he should have stayed with the RSS instead of
graduating to Jan Sangh during Emergency days.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman, however, said there
was no difference in the party on the Women`s Reservation
Bill.
"There is absolutely no difference and Sushmaji (Swaraj)
has very clearly stated that the party would support the
Congress when it tables the Bill (in the Lok Sabha) as passed
in the Rajya Sabha," she said.
The spokesperson said the party stands by the Bill as it
is. She said quotas and sub-quotas were issues which have not
been re-discussed again.
PTI
