Kamal Ghorui
CONGRESS: Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday said the Modi govt must implement the women’s reservation in legislatures in the existing Lok Sabha of 543 seats as mandated by the 2023 Act, asserting that BJP cannot be trusted with an overhaul of Parliament in the light of motivated delimitation done by the Modi govt in Assam and Jammu & Kashmir. She assured opposition support for quota in the present LS and said govt can call a Parliament session if some small changes are to be made in the law. The opposition is also planning to write to PM Modi seeking immediate implementation of the 2023 Act. Addressing a press briefing, she said, “They (govt) will put three members in the delimitation commission. Like with other commissions, they will capture it. How did they do it in J&K and Assam? They broke up the constituencies of the opposition politicians and saved their own (Assam). Strange constituencies were designed in J&K. Who can trust them?” The Wayanad Lok Sabha MP said the fall of the Constitution amendment bill is a victory for the country, the Constitution, democracy and opposition unity. “We saw the faces of big netas of BJP in Parliament. It was clear from their expressions that it was a shock for them, as they were defeated for the first time in 12 years. We fight harder and stand together, and we will hopefully be able to push through much more than we do,” she said. Priyanka said the move to increase the size of Lok Sabha to 850 implies that men are trying to reserve their seats from being allocated to women’s quota. “We are living in a patriarchy.
