BENGALURU: Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy on Sunday hoped that the 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies would be implemented in 2032-33, throwing an opportunity for a woman to become the state’s chief minister.
“The 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies will further enhance the prestige of the Parliamentary system in the coming days. According to the information I have, women’s reservation may be implemented in 2032-33,” Kumaraswamy, a former CM of Karnataka, said at a JDS convention held to mark International Women’s Day.
“If 33% women’s reservation is implemented, there will be 75 women MLAs in the Karnataka Assembly. If women from all parties want, then a woman can become the CM. Such an opportunity will be possible through reservation,” he said, while giving the credit for the 33 per cent quota bill being passed to PM Narendra Modi.
“The one who dreamt of it was former PM HD Deve Gowda as he has done a lot of work for women. It was Deve Gowda who gave 50% reservation for women in local body elections. In 1996, after he became the PM, he introduced a Bill in the Rajya Sabha to give 33% reservation to women. However, the bill was not passed in the Lok Sabha due to the lack of support from the Samajwadi Party and RJD. Now, it has been passed, and PM Modi has given women the opportunity to grow bigger in politics,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gowda stated that the 33% women’s reservation will come into effect if the delimitation of constituencies proceeds smoothly and called for more women from the JDS to contest the polls for the five city corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).
“Many women will get tickets to contest the polls. I had worked hard for the 33% women’s reservation. Modi gave a final shape. I congratulate Modi wholeheartedly for this,” he said.
Fissure surfaces in NDA as JDS MLA says HDK will be CM candidate
Bengaluru: FISSURES have begun to appear in the BJP-JDS alliance in Karnataka, with several JDS leaders, including legislators, claiming that their leader, HD Kumaraswamy, will be the CM candidate irrespective of the alliance. “If Kumaraswamy is declared the CM candidate, we (the alliance ) will win 140-150 seats.
Our CM candidate will be Kumaraswamy. Also, tell me who your party (BJP) CM candidate is?”, Gurmitkal JDS MLA Sharanagouda Kandakur told reporters on Sunday. The MLA alleged a lack of coordination between the two parties as the BJP went all alone in protesting against the recent state budget. “We love the BJP, but they do not love us.
They said that we won 19 seats in the Lok Sabha polls owing to the alliance. We used to hold coordination meetings during the session. However, yesterday, nothing came from the BJP regarding holding a coordination meeting.
They informed us about the protest only 30 minutes before the agitation. The national leaders of the BJP have love and affection towards us. The people of the state want Kumaraswamy to become the CM,” Kandakur said. “Ex-PM HD Deve Gowda said that Modi will decide about the CM,” he suggested.