SP to oppose Women's Reservation Bill in LS

SP favours 20 per cent reservation for the fairer sex, and believes that 33 percent reservation would be discriminatory to men.

Samajwadi Party would oppose the Women's Reservation Bill if it is tabled in the Lok Sabha in the present form and favours only 20 per cent reservation for the fairer sex, its leader Mulayam Singh Yadav said in Lucknow on Thursday.

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He underlined the need for making amendments in the Bill to ensure that reservations for women were not done at the cost of men.

The UP Chief Minister said the erstwhile NDA government had agreed that there should be 20 per cent reservation for women and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had even conveyed this to him.

"If 33 per cent reservation was given to women, the total reservation including that for SC/STs would go up to 55 per cent leaving only 45 per cent seats for the men which would be discriminatory," he told reporters.

Even in countries like the US and UK there was no provision for reservation for women, Yadav said.

"Muslim, Dalit and backward women should also be included in the 20 per cent reservation for women as proposed by the Samajwadi Party," he said.

Yadav claimed that almost all MPs of major political parties did not favour 33 per cent reservation for women but their leaders were insisting on it.