Early this month, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju called leaders of several opposition parties, informing them that Home Minister Amit Shah wanted to meet them. He did not disclose the reason for the meeting.
One such meeting with the Samajwadi Party was scheduled for March 5. Coincidentally, that was also the day Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, eager to enter the Rajya Sabha, was filing his nomination papers. Mr. Shah had flown from Delhi to Patna to be by his side. He had expected to return to the Capital by evening, in time for the meeting with the Samajwadi Party. But developments in Patna delayed him, and the meeting had to be rescheduled.
Lok Sabha passes historic women’s reservation Bill
Recently, he met Congress leaders and conveyed that the government is keen to accelerate the implementation of the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, known variously as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in official parlance, and more commonly as the Women’s Reservation Bill. Mr. Shah proposed lifting the two limitations imposed by Section 5 of the Act, which states that the reservation for women will come into effect “after an exercise of delimitation is undertaken for this purpose after the relevant figures for the first census taken after commencement of the Act…”
