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Walkout in RS over Women's Reservation bill

Members of the Tamil Maanila Congress and some Left parties today staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha protesting against the delay in introducing the Women's Reservation bill. They termed the government's plea on the need for a consensus on the issue as a ''lame excuse.''

Raising the issue during the zero hour, Jaya Prada (Telugu Desam Party), Pranab Mukherjee (Congress) and Gurudas Dasgupta (Communist Party of India) wanted to know why there was a delay in introducing the bill and said the silence on the part of the government was ''ambiguous.''

Most women members from the Opposition benches rushed into the well of the House demanding that the leader of the House must come out with a statement. They were soon joined by other members of the Opposition.

External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, who is also the leader of the House, said the National Democratic Alliance government was committed to introducing the bill and that there should be no doubt about it.

Singh said that the earlier two attempts by the government to introduce the bill had failed and ''we do not want this to be repeated.''

However, women members were not satisfied with the reply. Terming the government's quest for a consensus as an ''excuse,'' Jaya Prada said: ''Let the bill be introduced and we will come to know who has supported and who has opposed it.''

All TMC members and some members of the Left parties later walked out of the House.

UNI

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