Pranab to talk with opponents of Women's Reservation Bill

New Delhi, Mar 19 : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to hold talks with those opposing the Women's Reservation Bill before the Central Government takes a final call on it.

Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursid, however, said the government has no re-thinking on the Bill, which has got the nod of the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief Sharad Yadav are not in favour of the Bill, as they claim it does not protect the interest of minorities, Dalits and Muslims.

The Yadav trio wants a quota within this for the backward class and Muslim women.

History was created in the Rajya Sabha on March 9 when it voted by an overwhelming majority a Bill to reserve one-third of seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women.

Fourteen years after the first attempt was made in the Lok Sabha and repeated failures subsequently, the Constitution Amendment Bill was adopted in the mandatory division with 186 members voting for it and one voting against.

In the 245-member House with an effective strength of 233, the bill required the backing of at least 155 members and the UPA had the clear support of 165 in the run up to the event.

The bill seeks to reserve for women 181 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha and 1,370 out of a total of 4,109 seats in the 28 State Assemblies.