Lucknow: Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Thursday launched a sharp attack on Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, asking him to “wake up and apologise publicly” over the party’s stand on the Women’s Reservation (Amendment) Bill.Addressing the issue in the UP Legislative Council, Maurya said Akhilesh Yadav should declare support whenever a session is convened on the Nari Shakti Vandan Sanshodhan Adhiniyam. He said women make up 50% of the population and warned that parties ignoring their interests would face political consequences.Maurya alleged that the Samajwadi Party, Congress, Trinamool Congress and DMK did not support the proposed legislation seeking to increase Lok Sabha seats by 50% and reserve 33% of the total seats for women.Citing support from local bodies in Uttar Pradesh, Maurya said 44,968 of the state’s 57,694 gram panchayats, more than 78%, had sent proposals backing the bill. He added that similar resolutions were received from 671 of 826 development blocks and 63 of 75 zila panchayats.He said these proposals would be forwarded to the Prime Minister and described the response as “eye-opening”. Maurya also accused the Samajwadi Party of being anti-poor, anti-Dalit, anti-backward and now anti-women.During his remarks, Maurya said govt announced a caste census and would carry it out.Lal Bihari Yadav, leader of Opposition, in turn accused BJP of misleading people. “The Women Reservation Bill giving reservation of 33% was cleared with full support on September 9, 2023. It was passed in the Rajya Sabha on September 23 while the President gave assent on September 28. How is BJP then saying that we are opposing it?” he said.He said that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was only asking for the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill but that delimitation be carried out on the basis of the caste census.“Mulayam Singh Yadav was the first to implement reservation for women. We only want that OBC, Muslim women should all have their share in reservation,” Yadav said.
