Dal Sees Vote-Catching Opportunity In Women'S Bil

A major section of the Janata Dal feels that the women's reservation issue is a godsend opportunity for the Dal to keep its Muslim and backward constituency intact. This is especially true of Bihar, where the party is facing a serious challenge as the CBI has implicated state Chief Minister and Janata Dal national president Laloo Prasad in the Rs 950 crore animal husbandry scam.

A senior Dal leader who was extremely vocal in the Lok Sabha on Friday in opposing the Bill, which seeks to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, yesterday said this single issue will envelope all other issues - corruption, judicial activism, and CBI. The agenda will be redefined.

 

Prime Minister I K Gujral, who also belongs to the Dal, had stressed on Sunday that there should be a nation-wide debate on the issue.

The anti-bill section of the Janata Dal, which is backed by around 25 party MPs, mainly supporters of Laloo Prasad, is now engaged in a detailed plan to mobilise backward and Muslim masses to press for separate reservation for OBC (other backward community) women within the proposed 33 per cent.

A Dal leader yesterday said party working president Sharad Yadav's strong opposition of the women's reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday, if pursued further, had the potential of winning back a large section of the OBC vote bank from those parties which are supporting the Bill without a separate reservation for the OBCs.

Sharad Yadav agreed. How will they (who support the Bill) win without the Muslim vote? How will BJP win without OBC vote? he asked. Yadav showed reluctance to discuss party matters yesterday as he said in his opinion the most important issue for the moment was the women's Bill.

Yadav supported Gujral's call for a nation-wide debate on the subject. He clarified that what appeared as his opposition to the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha on Friday was only his own way of resisting the Bill and he had nothing against Gujral.

Sharad Yadav yesterday said that initially former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda also did not understand the need for a separate OBC reservation within the women's reservation when he brought the Bill in the Lok Sabha. But Yadav was able to convince him of its importance. Later, Gowda did not press for the Bill.

Yadav's statement is significant as Union minister C M Ibrahim, who is considered close to Gowda, supported the Bill in the emergency cabinet meeting on Friday. The meeting was held after Sharad Yadav had openly opposed the Bill in the House. Ibrahim even spoke in the cabinet against a separate reservation for Muslims. According to a cabinet source, Ibrahim spoke against the dangers of providing religion-based reservation in Parliament.

CM Ibrahim had a long meeting with Sharad Yadav yesterday evening at the latter's residence before Yadav mentioned about the Gowda's stand on the Bill.