Rajasthan to pass 33% reservation for women in Assembly: Gehlot

Yash Goyal
Jaipur, January 18 

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday announced that his government will bring in a proposal (Bill) for 33 per cent reservation for women in the state legislative assembly.

The Congress-ruled states have decided to pass the 33 per cent women quota, and his Cabinet meeting held last night decided in principle to introduce the proposal and get its Bill passed in the Rajathan Assembly, Gehlot told media here.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi wanted this, and earlier the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had struggled for this Bill in the Lok Sabha, and it was passed but it is still stuck in Rajya Sabha, Gehlot said. 

However, Gehlot did not clarify whether it will be a Bill or proposal on 33 per cent quota to be adopted in the House. 

Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, who was accompanying him, said the Bill granting reservation to women was introduced in Parliament and Congress is committed to get it passed in the Upper House.

Last night’s Cabinet meeting to have a consensus on it was one of the poll manifestoes of the Congress party in recently held assembly polls, he added. 

On opposition BJP’s demand to waive the crop loan of farmers in toto and disrupting the assembly proceedings since morning, Gehlot said, “BJP’s issue and uproar in the House is unnecessary and unwarranted because the previous Raje government had announced a meagre amount of Rs 5000 crop loan waiver scheme, and of which it made payment of only Rs 2000 crore out of Rs 8000 crore. The BJP left a burden of Rs 6000 on new Congress government”. 

“After taking over the reign, we have done this in two days with a package of Rs 2 lakh crop loan waiver to farmers who took loans from any bank and it will take time to take reports from all banks to finalise the roadmap.

“They (BJP) are trying to take political mileage on farmers’ issues which is just a face saving exercise, and they would not succeed. The Congress has heard grievances of other opposition parties such as the CPM, RLP, independents and allowed them to speak on this matter in the House today. And it was the Raje government when Congress MLAs were not heard and they held overnight protest on the floor of the House on this very demand,” Gehlot said in reply to a question.