Sushma Swaraj confident that Women's Reservation Bill will be passed

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj today said she was confident that the Women's Reservation Bill would be passed in Parliament with two-third majority.
    
"Since the UPA government does not have required numbers to pass the bill, it is the responsibility of the main opposition party to help in passing the bill," Swaraj said addressing a press conference here this evening.
   
"If the Congress party had taken such initiative to discharge its duty as main opposition party during the NDA regime, the women' reservation bill would have been passed in 1999," Swaraj said.
    
The senior BJP leader said the support to the UPA government on women's reservation bill was issue-based. "They (Congress) never cooperated with us and we do not expect that they will do so in future also if the BJP wishes to seek any support from them," Swaraj added.

Swaraj admitted that within the NDA and even her own party leaders, there were differences over the bill in its present form. "But when the party has decided to support the bill and has issued the whip, everyone has to support the same," she said.

She said it was the BJP in 1994 that brought the women's reservation bill in its agenda during the Vadodara convention.
"Since the party believes that complete empowerment of women will come with political empowerment as it gives authority, BJP is supporting the bill," Swaraj added.