Why no quota for women in Rajya Sabha, asks Mamata

A day after her party boycotted voting on the women's reservation bill, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asked why a third of the Rajya Sabha seats too should not be kept for women.

A day after her party boycotted voting on the women's reservation bill, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asked why a third of the Rajya Sabha seats too should not be kept for women.

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"Why there is no 33 per cent reservation for women in the Rajya Sabha?" a visibly upset Banerjee asked reporters.

The Trinamool Congress chief said that her party had "so many times" raised the issue of reservation for women in the Rajya Sabha.

Banerjee said her party supported the women's bill in principle but would discuss the stand to be taken in the Lok Sabha when the bill comes up in the lower house. The Lok Sabha is tipped to pass the bill by March 16.

The historic women's bill reserves a third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures.

"We were not informed," Banerjee insisted, when asked why her party abstained from voting Tuesday in the Rajya Sabha where the Trinamool has two MPs, Mukul Roy and Swapan Sadhan Bose.