Senior leader of Bhartiya Janata Party Sushma Swaraj said that her party was in favour of adopting the second resolution on women's reservation bill, which neither requires any constitutional amendment and also does not warrant reservation for women of any particular constituency.
"We have already lost five years by pressing for 33 per cent reservation for women and we do not want that the 2009 elections should be held without reservation for women," she said in a press conference.
Swaraj said that by stepping back from the original 33 per cent resolution the party has sullied its image and even this resolution that the party leaders are talking about is not feasible. The party outrightly rejected the move to raise the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as well as the state legislative assembly.
"Thirty three per cent reservation is not practical as it requires constitutional amendment and the seats would have to be marked. The members of Parliament and legislators will not nurse their constituencies as they would not be constesting from the same place next year. The bill will have to be passed by 50 per cent of the members present and 2/3rds of the total strengths of both the Houses. But in the second list, reservation has been left to the parties and there is no compulsion on earmarking the seats," she said.
When asked if the BJP would give tickets to 33 per cent women candidates in the state elections she asked why the party should do it if there is no legal obligation. She said efforts would be made to bring about consensus on this issue.
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