Published : Sep 22, 2023, 12:22 PM IST
New Delhi:Hours after the Rajya Sabha passed the Women's Reservation Bill, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Friday welcomed the move saying it was a timely decision taken in the best interest of women in the country.
"The idea to accord one third of the reservation to women in legislative assemblies and parliament is an idea whose time has come," he told media at a press meet in his New Delhi house.
The former PM and the chief of JD(S), who remembered old times, said,"I was the one who brought this bill back in 1996 as the PM but was unsuccessful in seeing it through. The attempts were made later during the tenure of PM Manmohan Singh. Both times when this issue was raised, government did not had the majority but you (BJP) are lucky to have a majority in the Parliament."
On the seat-sharing issue between the BJP and JDS, the former PM said, "The matter is not with me. It is Kumaraswamy who is going to meet the Home Minister. He will discuss. I don't want to say anything as of now." To a question from media personnel whether he'll be meeting PM Modi today, with a smile on his face, he refused to comment.
On Cauvery River water-sharing issue which has become a contentious issue between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, he said that, "I told you on the floor of the House. Send five members who do not belong to Tamil Nadu or Karnataka. Let them go and study the conditions - the crop condition, storage. Chairman said 'No..."