New Delhi , April 5: April 5: With the top Yadav leaders remaining adamant on their demand for a “quota within quota”, consensus proved elusive at the all-party meeting called here on Monday to break the deadlock over the Women’s Reservation Bill. As the impasse continued, the government remained tightlipped on its next step: whether it would table the legislation in the Lok Sabha in the second half of the Budget Session beginning April 15 as it has been promising for some time. The bill, which is a constitutional amendment, has already secured the Rajya Sabha’s approval with the requisite two-thirds majority.

After Monday’s all-party meeting called by Mr Pranab Mukherjee, who is Leader of the Lok Sabha besides being finance minister, the government said merely that the “discussions will continue”. It did not give any indication if it was prepared to consider the “quota within quota” demanded by the Yadav triumverate — the chiefs of the Samjawadi Party, RJD and JD(U) — and now also supported by a key UPA partner — Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. The views expressed at the meeting would be conveyed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and the timing of further consultations would then be decided, government sources indicated.
The government had earlier indicated it would go ahead with the bill in the second half of the ongoing session, but law minister M. Veerappa Moily, who had said there would be “no dilution in the bill”, remained noncommittal on Monday.
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, emerging from the two-hour-long meeting, made it clear that both his party and the SP were totally against the bill in its present form. “There is no question of budging from our stand,” Mr Yadav said. The SP, RJD and now even the Trinamul Congress wanted reservations for women to include special provisions for Muslims, backward classes and dalits.
After the meeting Ms Mamata Banerjee held parleys with the Yadav chieftains — Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sharad Yadav — and the four leaders then met Mr Pranab Mukherjee to reiterate their opposition to the bill in its present form.
Sources said that these four leaders stuck to their guns at the all-party session, and blocked any attempts to reach a consensus. JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav objected to Mr Moily’s statement before the meeting that there would be “no dilution”, and he and the others also opposed the draft statement, proposed to be released by home minister P. Chidarmbaram after the meeting. The government then cancelled the briefing.
While the BJP is committed to support the bill, it said clearly that it would oppose its passage if marshals were called into the Lok Sabha to see it through. The Left parties are also against any dilution of the bill. With Monday’s all-party meeting proving inconclusive, the Congress core group is now expected to meet over the issue.
 
Venkatesh Kesari