New Delhi ,March 4: The BJP-led NDA is divided on the Women’s Reservation Bill with the Janata Dal (U) and the Shiv Sena opposing it in its present form. The government has decided to take up the bill in the Rajya Sabha on March 8.

The bill, which provides 33 per cent reservations for women in the Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies, was controversial from day one. JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav on Thursday made it clear that his party is not opposing reservation for women but the bill does not ensure a quota for backward caste women and, if passed in its present form, would protect the interests of women belonging to the so-called upper castes.

He said the BJP and the Marxists should decide whether they were for “mahila (women) or mehengai (inflation)” while cautioning them that going with the Congress on this issue would split Opposition unity on price rise inside and outside Parliament.

NDA sources said the BJP’s decision could also influence the alliance with the JD(U) in Bihar. The Shiv Sena leader and its sitting member in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Bharatkumar Raut, said when contacted that his party opposed the bill in its present form. The Shiv Sena has been in favour of reservation for women at the party level and that political parties should reserve 33 per cent for them in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.

In a related development, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury and TD Parliamentary Party leader in the Lok Sabha Nama Nageswara Rao met on Thursday to discuss the issue. According to sources, Mr Yechury told them his party was against any dilution of the present bill and wanted it taken up for passage without a discussion. They said he had also expressed this view at a business advisory committee meeting of the Rajya Sabha held Thursday afternoon.

The BAC has allotted four hours for a discussion on the bill. Government managers are confident of its passage and have already started approaching one-member parties.  

Another NDA ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal, has not taken any stand on the bill. When contacted, the Akali Dal leader in the Lok  Sabha, Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala, said the party has not taken any view on this issue.

The RJD is criticising the Congress for going ahead with the bill. “It is under the influence of NGOs and the English-speaking people. When the Rashtrapati, Lok Sabha Speaker, UPA chairperson and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha are women, why is the Congress going ahead with a bill ignoring OBCs,” it asked. The SP and RJD remained firm on their opposition to the bill. “We will not tolerate it,” Mr Lalu Yadav told reporters outside Parliament.

“The country’s President is a woman, Lok Sabha Speaker is a woman, the Congress president and UPA chairperson is also a woman, and they have not come here through the women’s quota,” he said.

Backing the RJD’s stand, SP leader Akhilesh Singh Yadav said, “We will not support the bill in its present form as we want the bill to have provisions for OBCs.”

But BJD MP Kalikesh Singhdeo, however, said his party is in favour of the bill. “Our party supports the bill in its present form,” he said.

But Mr Asaduddin Owaisi of the All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen feared the bill in its present form will deprive the Muslim community of its place in the legislature and the House will eventually turn into a “Hindu Lok Sabha”. He said the bill in its present form would sound the “death knell” for the minorities.

Venkatesh Kesari