Kendrapara/Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said Sunday the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) would field 33 per cent women among its candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, terming the move a ‘benchmark for women empowerment’ in the country. He was addressing a gathering at the ‘Mission Shakti Convention’ at Kendrapara. He also sanctioned rupees one crore to build the ‘Mission Shakti’ Bhawan.
The BJD president said the ‘historic step’ would lead the way in empowering women. “If India is to lead the world, if India has to compete with countries like America and China and become an advanced nation, women empowerment is the only answer,” Patnaik stated.
Patnaik’s decision would mean that the ruling BJD will field women candidates for at least seven out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state. At present, there are three women Lok Sabha MPs from Odisha. The BJD had won 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in 2014.
Patnaik, however, did not make any such announcement for the Assembly polls which is slated to be held along with the Lok Sabha elections. Odisha’s 147-member Assembly currently has 12 women MLAs at present.
The BJD supremo said he had sent a proposal in this regard to all the national parties and Chief Ministers. “I call upon all the national parties that they should be true to their words and must follow what they propagate for women empowerment,” he said.
Patnaik reminded the crowd that his father and former chief minister Biju Patnaik implemented 33 per cent reservation for women for the first time in the country, in the three-tier panchayati raj institutions and government jobs. The Odisha government enhanced the reservation for women to 50 per cent in panchayats in 2012.
Patnaik’s announcement, however, was dubbed by opposition BJP and Congress as a ‘pre-poll game plan’ to woo women voters. Union Minister and BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan said in Bhubaneswar that it is nothing but a ‘gimmick to grab the votes’ of women electors. A senior Congress leader said BJD is using it as a ‘last ditch effort’ to get votes as its ‘popularity has nosedived’.
