All party meet on Women's Reservation Bill ends

An all party meeting on Women's Reservation Bill ended in New Delhi with Lok Sabha Speaker Ms Meira Kumar saying that further consultations will continue to arrive at a consensus on the bill. Talking to media after the meeting, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said that her party is in favour of the passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha, but it should not be done in the manner it was passed in the Upper House by calling in the marshals. She said that Shiv Sena is of the view that the quota issue should be left to the parties. AIR correspondent reports that RJD and JDU leaders repeated their old demand that there should be a quota within quota for women from backward classes. Samajwadi Party and BSP members were absent in today's meeting. The bill granting 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies was passed by the Rajya Sabha in March last year. Among the leaders , those attended the meet include Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, leader of the opposition Ms Sushma Swaraj, senior BJP leader L K Advani, DMK leader T R Baalu, Trinamool leader Sudip Bandopadhya, CPM leader Basudev Acharia, National conference leader Farooq Abdullah and JD (u) leader Ram Sunder Das. In a related development, the Congress has reaffirmed its commitment to bring women's reservation Bill in Lok Sabha in the monsoon session. Party spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said the UPA government got it passed in the Rajya Sabha and would like to see it as an Act.