33% Reservation For Women: BJD To Consult National, Regional Parties

Bhubaneswar: The BJD on Wednesday decided to consult national and regional parties for implementation of its proposal on 33 per cent reservation of seats for women in the State Assemblies and Parliament.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the party vice-presidents and general secretaries presided over by the party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at Naveen Niwas here in the afternoon.

Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra said it was decided in the meeting that a delegation of BJD leaders will meet the leaders of seven national parties and 15 regional parties to discuss the proposal.

“As decided, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Ananta Das and Arabinda Dhali will meet the leaders of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) while Sashi Bhusan Behera, AU Singhdeo and Pratyusha Rajeshwari Singh will meet the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leaders. Similarly, Prasanna Acharya, Bed Prakash Agrawal, Bhartruhari Mahtab and Sarojini Hembram will meet BJP leaders and Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo, Kulamani Samal and Rita Tarai will meet CPI and CPM leaders. Besides, Tathagat Satpathy, Bed Prakash Agrawal, Pinaki Mishra and Prasanna Patsani will meet Congress leaders, while Badri Narayan Patra, Arun Patnaik and Sakuntala Laguri will meet the National Congress Party (NCP) leaders,” Mishra said.
The Chief Minister, during the winter session of the State Assembly on November 20, had appealed to members in the Odisha Assembly to unanimously adopt a resolution for providing 33 per cent reservation for women in the Legislative Assembly and Parliament.
Initiating a discussion through a motion in the House in the afternoon, he had said that no household, society, state and country has ever moved forward without empowering its women.

Stating that the principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Constitution, Naveen said the former Chief Minister and legendary leader Biju Patnaik was a true champion of women’s empowerment who, in 1992, had brought women to the realm of political decision-making by providing 33 per cent reservation for them in the local bodies.

Maintaining that the new Odisha will move forward with much greater momentum if women have a role in the highest decision-making bodies of the state and the country, the Chief Minister said Odisha must show its commitment and resolve to the entire nation that it is the land where women are truly empowered and involved in nation-building.
While appealing to the members to unanimously adopt the resolution, he said the state government, after passing the resolution in the State Assembly, will send it to the Centre for approval.