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T’gana Oppn parties slam Kavitha’s stir for women’s quota bill
State BJP president Bandi Sanjay said Kavitha had no moral right to demand women’s reservation, as the BRS had never given any due recognition to women in any field.
Hyderabad : Bharat Rashtra Samithi legislator and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha’s hunger strike in New Delhi demanding enactment of women’s reservation bill in Parliament drew flak from the opposition parties in the state.
Kavitha said, “We demand that the BJP government introduce this bill, we will bring all the political parties together and will try supporting you in Parliament.”
State BJP president Bandi Sanjay said Kavitha had no moral right to demand women’s reservation, as the BRS had never given any due recognition to women in any field. “In fact, there is no role for any other women in the BRS, except Kavitha. People are laughing at her for taking up the demand for women’s reservation bill,” he said at a meeting held at the party headquarters in Hyderabad.
He sought to know why women’s bill was not discussed at the cabinet meeting convened by KCR on Thursday, why the BRS MPs had not raised the issue in Parliament and no assurance was given on 33 percent quota to women if the BRS comes to power at the Centre.
Sanjay also wondered why KCR was not following this 33 per cent quota for women in Telangana – in cabinet formation, distribution of party tickets to MPs and MLAs, and BRS organisational structure.
Lashing out at Kavitha for doubting the sincerity of the BJP on women’s reservation bill, Sanjay reminded that during the Atal Bihari Vajyapee regime, the then NDA government had introduced the bill on July 13, 1998, but it was torn to pieces by Rashtriya Janata Dal. “Even in 1999, 2002 and 2003, the then NDA government introduced the women’s reservation bill, but the opposition parties had opposed the same,” he pointed out.
Stating that the Modi government had given utmost respect to women, the BJP president said as many as 11 women were inducted into the Modi cabinet, some of them got key portfolios – like Sushma Swaraj as the first foreign minister and Nirmala Sitharaman as the first defence minister and finance minister. “An Adivasi woman has been made the President of India. Eight women were made Governors and four as chief ministers. Women were given prominent positions in all the three military forces,” he said.
All India Congress Committee general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Kavitha had woken up very late on women’s reservation bill. “The Congress had introduced the bill on women’s quota in legislative bodies way back in March 2010. After 13 years, it is ridiculous that the BRS chief’s daughter has taken up the deeksha for the bill,” he said.
YSR Telangana Party president Y S Sharmila said Kavitha’s deeksha was only to divert the people’s attention from the Delhi liquor policy scam. “She has to do dharna in front of her father’s bungalow Pragati Bhavan, not in Delhi, as the BRS government has not been giving due share to women in any field,” Sharmila said.
The BRS leader led the hunger strike a day ahead of her appearance before the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi excise scam case. She has been summoned by the ED in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the excise policy.
