Congress general secretary KC Venugopal on Wednesday hit out at Union minister Smriti Irani over her jibe at the Gandhi family, saying she had been assigned a portfolio to abuse the Congress and Gandhi family. On Tuesday, the Narendra Modi government tabled the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha. Irani questioned Congress veteran Sonia Gandhi’s absence from the House. “Gandhi Family is only interested in empowering the women in their family. They are not interested in empowering the women in poor or Dalit women. It is unfortunate that Sonia Gandhi was absent today”, she told news agency ANI.“Her son also left when the discussion on the bill was underway. it is even more unfortunate that when the Speaker asked who supported the bill, BJP and NDA supported it but the Congress party did not”, the minister added. Parliament special session LIVE coverageResponding to Irani’s barb, Venugopal told news agency ANI,”BJP and Prime Minister have given a portfolio for her to abuse Congress party and Gandhis. She is doing that duty to appease her master”. Today, Sonia Gandhi will be the lead speaker for the Congress during the debate on the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ or women’s reservation bill in Lok Sabha.
‘Election jumla’, says Cong chief Kharge
The grand old party has termed the bill an ‘election jumla’. It has slammed the Centre over the bill which states that the reservation will be effective only after a Census and delimitation exercise is conducted post-enactment of the bill.ALSO READ: Kharge vs Sitharaman in Rajya Sabha over women’s reservation bill remarks
“In 2010, the Congress-UPA government got the women’s reservation bill passed in the Rajya Sabha. Just as SC-ST class has got a constitutional opportunity in politics, similarly everyone including women of OBC class should get equal opportunity through this bill,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X on Tuesday.
“There is a need to look carefully at the bill that the Modi government has brought today. In the current draft of the bill, it is written that it will be implemented only after decadal census and delimitation. This means, Modi government has probably closed the doors of women’s reservation till 2029. BJP should clarify on this,” he added.
