Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: In the first signs of strains within the UPA over Women’s Reservation Bill, Trinamool Congress(TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee claimed on Tuesday that her party was kept in the dark over the way the Bill would be moved in the Rajya Sabha.
"We were not consulted on the issue. We are a major
ally of the government and you have to trust your own ally,"
Trinamool chief and Railway Minister Banerjee told reporters
here.
"The CPI-M was taken into confidence but not the
Trinamool Congress," she said.
While two members of Trinamool Congress in Rajya Sabha
-- Mukul Roy and Swapan Sadhan Bose -- did not participate in
the voting on the women's bill, the party did not clarify what
stand it would take when the legislation came up for vote in
the Lok Sabha.
"We are shocked by the way in which the decision to
have voting on the bill was taken forcibly. It is improper,"
the party's chief whip in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay told
PTI.
He said the all-party meeting yesterday had decided
that the issue would be "deferred for the time being" and
there was no decision on going in for voting on the bill.
"But suddenly there was pressure from the CPI-M and
the government decided to have voting on the issue today
itself. We were not even informed. So, without taking into
confidence the second largest party (TC) in UPA, government
bowed to pressures from CPI-M which had toppled the UPA-I
government," Bandopadhyay said.
However, Congress leader Rajiv Shukla denied ignoring UPA allies and insisted all issues with TMC can be sorted out on table.
To add to the governemnt’s worries, Mamata also went ahead and held parleys with other opponents of the Bill- Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh.
Her meeting comes after Prasad, Mulayam and Sharad Yadav earlier in the day showed no signs of relenting on the passing of the Bill in its present form, and asked Prime Minister to first call an all-party meeting to evolve a consensus.
"They (Lalu and Mulayam) are allies and I can always talk to them," said Mamata in the afternoon.
No threat to UPA stability: Sonia Gandhi
To a question on Trinamool Congress expressing reservations over the passage of the bill, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said all the parties in the UPA had welcomed the measure when it was brought in the Cabinet and she saw no no problems within the UPA.
"Mamata Banerjee was quite enthusiastic. DMK has been for the bill and supported the Prime Minister fully. Pawar also fully supported it. Everyone has supported it. I don't see any problems within the UPA," she said.
When asked whether she had to be tough to push ahead with the bill, Gandhi said yesterday also she was firm. People mentioned some possible consequences which she had to take into account. "I may not not have thought of that."
She denied suggestions that Congress was "in a shambles" yesterday on the bill. "Certain developments took place and we had to face that," she said.
Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh
Yadav, two prominent opponents of Women's Reservation Bill,
had a nearly 20-minute interaction with Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha today, but both sides appeared
to have failed to convince each other. Gandhi, who is also the UPA chairperson, used the period
between two adjournments to reach out to the two Yadavs, who
along with JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav form part of the trio
which is vehemently opposing the bill in its present form.
"He has seven daughters. I was telling him that within
his family there are seven for the Bill," Gandhi told
reporters when asked about her informal interaction with
Prasad and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in the Lok Sabha.
Asked what was Prasad's reaction, she said "he just
laughed".
She also met with the PM when both Houses were
adjourned following uproar, indicating that Government was
prepared for discussion on the issue.
Brinda lambasts Mamata
"Trinamool Congress has been very opportunistic over the
Women's Reservation Bill. In the past, Mamata Banerjee had
taken initiative over the issue.
"In fact, she had tried to prevent Sharad Yadav from
blocking the Bill a few years back. But now she does not seem
to have any commitment towards women," CPM leader Brinda Karat told reporters
outside the Parliament.
-PTI inputs
First Published: Tuesday, March 09, 2010, 22:40