JD(U) Lok Sabha MPs to ask Sharad to talk with Nitish on women's bill

JD(U) Lok Sabha MPs today unanimously decided to ask party chief Sharad Yadav to hold discussions with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Women's Reservation Bill and direct the Chief Whip to issue a whip over voting on the measure in Lok Sabha.
    
Though JD(U) has traditionally been opposed to the bill in its present form and has been asking for a quota within quota for Dalits and minorities, differences could be seen among party MPs after Kumar supported it.

A letter signed by 17 Lok Sabha MPs of the party, including Mangani Lal Mandal, who is the Chief Whip in the Lower House, said, "It has unanimously been decided to urge Sharad Yadav to speak to Nitish Kumar and direct the Chief Whip to issue a whip in Lok Sabha (on the Bill)." The party has 20 MPs in Lok Sabha and seven in Rajya Sabha.

Earlier in the day, the party's parliamentary party meeting on the bill remained inconclusive as several of its LS and RS MPs were not present in it.

After the meeting, party's RS MP Shivanand Tiwari had said that veteran Lok Sabha MP Ram Sundar Das has been asked to speak to both Nitish and Yadav over the issue of the party's line on the Bill.

Tiwari had also said that if there is no clear direction from the party leadership, the RS members will take a decision among themselves on it an hour before voting on the bill in Parliament.