4 more women MPs join panel on law

NEW DELHI: The battlelines are getting clearly drawn on Women’s Reservation Bill as four more women members and senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav have joined the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law. While BJP has nominated Kiran Maheshwari, Congress has sent Tejaswini Seeramesh Gowda and Krishna Tirath and CPM P Satheedevi. There are now seven women members in the 31-member committee. Earlier, Brinda Karat of CPM, Najma Heptulla of BJP and Jayanthi Natarajan of Congress were made members of the committee. The first meeting of the committee in May was stormy and witnessed a verbal duel between pro- and anti-reservationists. The committee has decided to meet every Tuesday in June. At the scheduled meeting on June 3, Annie Raja, CPI national executive member and chairperson of National Federation of Indian Women, would depose before the committee. Though there are two meetings over the next two weeks, sources said, it would interesting to watch what national and regional political parties have to say when their deposition begins from June 17. SP’s nomination of Ram Gopal Yadav is interesting. He replaces party colleague Shafiqur Rahman Barg. A senior leader, Yadav is expected to articulate the party’s point of view more forcefully. RJD already has Devendra Prasad Yadav in the committee. SP, along with RJD, has been at the forefront of opposing the 33% reservation for women in Parliament and the state assemblies.
1 Jun 2008, 0219 hrs IST,TNN
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