New Delhi, March 12: Crisis managers in the ruling UPA are working on a proposal to bring the 33 per cent quota for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies (in the bill passed by the Rajya Sabha earlier this week) down to 20 per cent.

This suggestion emerged before the UPA’s managers at their recent meeting with the three top Yadav leaders (Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad and Sharad Yadav), as well as with railway minister Mamata Banerjee and the DMK’s T.R. Baalu, well-informed sources said.
While all political parties continue to stick to their publicly-stated positions on the controversial legislation, the realisation is growing that it will be difficult to get it passed in the Lok Sabha in its existing form. The current bill is being strongly resisted by large numbers of Lok Sabha MPs, cutting across party lines.
The UPA managers are likely to discuss the proposed changes with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the next few days. The sources said the             three Yadavs, Ms Banerjee and Mr Baalu had already been sounded out informally.
The next step will be to consult the BJP and its allies as well as the Left leaders. All of these parties have publicly said they are opposed to any dilution of the bill: what remains to be seen is if they are willing to let the deadlock continue or will help to break it.
Finance minister and the Leader of Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar will talk to the political parties separately to see how the impasse can be broken during the parliamentary recess which begins early next week. They hope to have the matter resolved by the time the Budget Session resumes in the second week of April.
“Calling a joint meeting of floor leaders now will not serve any purpose as they will reiterate their stated positions,” a UPA leader pointed out.
Some Union ministers confirmed, meanwhile, that the crisis managers were working on a 20 per cent reservation formula.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, meanwhile, on Friday raked up his old demand that all political parties should be required to give 20 per cent of election tickets to women, and that the registration of parties which failed to do so should be cancelled. “We are in favour of (women’s) reservation, but we don’t want more than 20 per cent. In that 20 per cent too, parties should be given the right to decide on which seats to give to women,” he said in an interview to a television channel.
The SP president denied that he had ever demanded a “quota-within-quota” in connection with the Women’s Bill, and described it as “false propaganda”.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, addressing party general secretaries, senior members and PCC presidents on ways to commemorate its 125th foundation day at a meeting here, said the bill was part of the Congress’ abiding commitment to the empowerment of the aam aadmi (common man) along with several other pieces of legislation.
 

Venkatesh Kesari