New Delhi: The Congress Thursday accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of reviving his “delimitation plantation” with his claim that he will get the delimitation bill passed in Parliament by 15-18 votes and dubbed him a “master of bluff and bluster.”
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Shah tried getting the delimitation bill passed earlier but faced a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha.
Shah’s “bulldozer” did not work earlier and will not work again, he asserted.
“The Home Minister has revived the ‘delimitation plantation’ today while talking informally to a group of journalists. He told them this afternoon that a 3-day special session will soon be called and the Bills will be passed by a 15-18 vote margin.
“He had said the same thing seven months earlier but on April 17th faced a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha by a decisive margin, falling short by over 50 votes,” Ramesh wrote on X.
“He is the master of bluff and bluster. His bulldozer did not work then and will not work again,” the Congress leader said.
The government is planning to convene a “special session” of Parliament to secure the passage of a Constitution amendment bill linked to the implementation of women’s reservation, with sources expressing confidence that it would win by a margin of 15 to 18 votes.
There was no information on the dates or duration of the proposed session.
The government needs 361 votes to secure a two-thirds majority for the Constitution amendment bill to pass. The House of 543 has three vacancies as of now.
The proposed amendment seeks to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha from the present 543 seats to a maximum of 850 through delimitation, paving the way for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state legislative assemblies.
A similar Constitution amendment bill failed to pass muster in the Lok Sabha during a special sitting of the Budget Session April 17.
The possibility of convening Parliament at short notice remains alive as the Monsoon Session, during which both Houses were adjourned sine die (for an indefinite period) August 13, has not yet been prorogued.
The session has been unprorogued for 91 days now, breaking the record of 87 days set in 2008.