At a meeting held at parliamentary party chairman LK Advani’s house, the party decided that it was not in the business of bailing out the bill, but rather with putting its own house in order.
Having helped the government pass the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, opposition BJP started damage control on three fronts on Thursday.
At a meeting held at parliamentary party chairman LK Advani’s house, the party decided that it was not in the business of bailing out the bill, but rather with putting its own house in order.
Protesting MPs from RJD, JD(U) and SP were physically removed from Rajya Sabha before passage of the bill on Tuesday. BJP had not opposed the move. But on Thursday, leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said the use of marshals in the Lower House will not be condoned by the party.
As news reports came in that several BJP MPs (including OBC MPs) were opposed to the bill, the party got denials issued by many of them. But Yogi Adityanath, MP from Gorakhpur, remained defiant. “We will issue a whip when the bill comes up in the Lok Sabha. All our members are ready to vote with the whip,” said
Swaraj.
Sources confirm that at least a dozen MPs spoke out against the ati utsah (over enthusiasm) demonstrated by the party on a bill for which the Congress has claimed the entire credit.
BJP sources said senior MPs like Maneka Gandhi, Shatrughan Sinha, Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav and Bijapur MP Ramesh Jinjinagi protested the party’s silence when marshals were called in. Sinha reportedly said no whip should be issued in the Lok Sabha.
The third front of damage control was about the NDA allies. The internal struggle in the JD(U) has been out in the open. The meeting at Advani’s residence decided that no pressure will be brought on NDA allies toe the BJP line.
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