New Delhi: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Monday sought support from all political parties for the smooth passage of women’s reservation bill in the winter session of parliament.
BJD parliamentary party leader in Lok Sabha Bhartruhari Mahtab after attending the all-party meeting called by the Centre to seek Opposition’s support for smooth functioning of the house here said, the party raised several issues at the meeting and sought support from the government and other parties for the women’s quota.
“We have asked for inclusion of 108 Constitution Amendment that is related to 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies and also asked for a discussion on special category status to Odisha. We have also raised the issue of farmers’ distress and sought raising farmers’ income by 1.5 times,” Mahtab said.
Speaking on the support of political parties on women reservation, Mahtab said, “Some of the political parties including the Congress and the Trinamool Congress have supported our demand of reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.”
The BJD leader said that the party raised the issue of Central assistance to Odisha for the losses incurred due to cyclone Titli. He said we have asked why Odisha was not given any assistance by the Centre. The Union government had sanctioned additional assistance to Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Nagaland from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) but did not provide any assistance to Odisha.
As this is the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the BJD urged the government that a specific date be dedicated to commemorate him in Parliament. Mahtab said the government accepted the demand to commemorate the Father of Nation and the date will be decided after speaking to the Speaker.