JOIN USThe bill to provide quota in promotions to SC/ST in jobs was introduced in Rajya Sabha amid unprecedented fisticuffs between members but its immediate passage looks unlikely with opposition emerging from within UPA and the continuing deadlock in Parliament.
In a bid to wriggle out of the logjam over the coal controversy, Government has decided to move the bill for consideration and passage tomorrow but BJP, which has been disrupting Parliament for the last two weeks, is unrelenting.
The Samajwadi Party has openly opposed the measure and it has been joined by UPA constituent DMK, which too has demanded quota for OBC in the measure.
On the rival side also, divisions came to surface with JD-U supporting the bill and Shiv Sena strongly opposing it.
The BJP, whose support the BSP sought for quick passage, has said it stands for social justice "subject to the limitation of Constitutional permissibility".
The party said it has conveyed to the Rajya Sabha Chairman that it was willing for a
debate but before that the government should take effective steps to resolve the Parliamentary stalemate by cancelling the coal block allocations and ordering an independent inquiry.
The talk in political circles is that major parties like Congress and BJP are also said to be facing some sort of resistance from sections within and a parallel is being drawn to the Women's Reservation Bill, which is still in a limbo.
Mayawati, who is strongly pitching for the measure, attacked both the NDA and the UPA for delay in passage saying they were keen on their political gains and not bothered about the SCs/STs.
That the measure drew strong opposition from the SP was visible in the Upper House today when BSP member Avtar Singh Karimpuri got into a scuffle with SP's Naresh Agrawal prompting the Chair to adjourn the House soon after introduction of the Bill.
Agrawal was apparently trying to snatch papers from Deputy Chairman P J Kurien in a bid to scuttle its introduction.
UPA does not have majority in the Upper House and a Constitutional amendment bill requires two-thirds majority.
Congress has issued a whip to its members to support the measure.
Shiv Sena's leader in the Rajya Sabha Sanjay Raut said that his party has been staunchly opposed to reservation on the basis of religion and caste and the measure could lead to "yet another partition" of the country.
DMK supremo M Karunanidhi created unease in the ruling circles when he came out with a statement in Chennai supporting SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's stand.
"SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav did not say there should be no reservation for SC and ST communities, but only questioned why the Bill did not cover OBCs. This policy is acceptable to us also," Karunanidhi said.
Introduction of the Bill started yet another slugfest between the Congress and the BJP with the Opposition party dubbing the move by the ruling party as a diversionary tactic from the coal block allocation issue.
BJP has 49 members in the 245-member Rajya Sabha while Congress has a strength of 70. BSP has 15, SP and TMC have nine each, DMK seven and NCP ten members.