Kamal Ghorui
MYSORE: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday hit back at BJP over its accusations against Congress and said the Modi government should have immediately implemented the Women’s Reservation Act after it was enacted in 2023. Talking to reporters here, he said Congress has always been in favour of women getting more representation in elected bodies and said a Congress government brought the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution, leading to reservations for women in panchayati raj institutions. He alleged that PM Modi is not in favour of social justice. “The Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in 2023, it should have been implemented, what was the need to wait?” he asked. He rejected the Prime Minister’s accusation that Congress and its allies committed feticide by voting against the Women’s Reservation Amendment Bill which was linked to delimitation based on 2011 census. “Prime Minister’s attitude is discriminatory and he is not in favour of social justice,” Siddaramaiah alleged. Opposition leaders claimed that the government wanted to do limitation on the basis of the 2011 census as it did not want to take caste data into account. The government has rejected the allegations. He asked why PM Modi did not implement women’s reservation in legislatures during the nearly 12 years that the BJP-led government has been in power at the Centre. “Let it be implemented even now, according to the 2023 Act,” he said. The Chief Minister said it would be appropriate to do the delimitation of constituencies after the census. Referring to the Delimitation Bill linked to the Women’s Reservation Amendment Bill, which was firmly opposed by opposition parties in Lok Sabha last week, he said Lok Sabha seats were proposed to be increased by 50%, which would have been unfair to the states of South India. “The states of South India have done population control well, while the states of North India have not. Naturally, it will be beneficial for them and disadvantageous for the states of South India,” he said. The Congress leader accused the Prime Minister of playing politics. “There was no need to bring women’s reservation and delimitation together. They knew they did not have two-thirds majority.” Siddaramaiah expressed confidence of victory of DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu assembly polls. “DMK and allies will win in Tamil Nadu, while the Congress-led UDF will win in Kerala,” he said.
