4 more women MPs on quota bill panel

By OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI

May 31: Four more women MPs have been added to the key parliamentary panel scrutinising the Women’s Reservation Bill.

With the addition of these four more Lok Sabha MPs — Ms Tejaswini Seeramesh Gowda and Ms Krishna Tirath (both Congress), Ms Kiran Maheswari (BJP) and Ms P. Satheedevi (CPI-M) — the 31-member committee now has seven women members.

Interestingly, when the bill was referred to the standing committee on law and justice, headed by senior Congress MP E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan, it had no women members in it.

But, recently Ms Brinda Karat of CPI(M), Ms Najma Heptulla of Bhartiya Janata Party and Ms Jayanti Natarajan of Congress (all Rajya Sabha MPs) were made members of the committee.

The SP has brought in Mr Ram Gopal Yadav to replace his party colleague Mr Shafiqur Rahman Barg in the committee.

The first meeting of the committee earlier this week saw fireworks with supporters and opponents of the proposal indulging in verbal duels over the contentious issue pending for over a decade. The committee has been given three months to submit its report on the bill which seeks to provide 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

The RJD has brought in its parliamentary party leader Devendra Prasad Yadav — a known opponent of the bill in its present form — in the key committee.

The committee has already written to five national parties and 42 regional outfits to give their views on the bill. The committee has decided to meet every Tuesday in June and a meeting is scheduled on June 3, when CPI National Executive member and chairperson of Indian Federation of Indian Women Annie Raja would depose before it.