BJP Seeks Credit for Women Bill

BJP is seeking credit for its role in passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill and postponement of the nuclear liability bill, said media reports.

“When the Women’s Reservation Bill came many said opposition unity will be broken but we were not affected by criticism that BJP was aligning with the Left,” Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj was quoted as saying in a press conference.

When reminded that Congress has already taken credit for the Women’s Reservation Bill, she was quoted as saying, “Democracy runs on numbers. In the House where it was passed, government did not have a majority.”

Also present in the conference, Leader of Opposition in the Upper House Arun Jaitley made mention of the pandemonium and use of marshals when the bill was up for discussion and passage in the Rajya Sabha, report said.

“My de facto intervention became the de jure debate,” he was quoted as saying, adding that he had objected to the use of marshals even in his speech. “You cannot have voting or debate in the presence of marshals.”

“From the beginning till the end we were opposed to use of marshals. Even during the debate, while supporting the bill, we opposed the use of marshals. The government could have handled it better,” Jaitley was quoted as saying.

Swaraj pointed out that BJP had efficiently bent the UPA government on the issue of inflation in the parliament, said report.

“The government wanted that we discuss price rise as part of the Motion of Thanks to President’s Address or the debate on the general budget but we wanted a focussed discussion on the issue,” she was quoted as saying, adding that opposition’s protest forced adjournments in Lok Sabha for two days.

She also said that BJP acted with responsibility by not forcing an adjournment in Lok Sabha on price rise when the Railway Budget was being presented.

Swaraj and Jaitley attributed opposition’s good performance to good floor-coordination and said that the floor management of the government was poor, said report.

BJP also took credit for deferring of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, saying government was forced to retreat in the face of opposition unity.

“We are opposing the bill as it is not in nation’s interest,” Swaraj was quoted as saying.