BJP takes credit for Women`s Bill, deferment of Nuclear Bill

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) Bhartiya Janata Party on Wednesday
sought to take credit for its role in passage of the Women's
Reservation Bill in Upper House Rajya Sabha and forcing the
government to defer the nuclear liability bill.
"When the Women's Reservation Bill came many said
opposition unity will be broken but we were not affected by
criticism that BJP was aligning with the Left," Leader of the
Opposition in Lower House Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told a press
conference.
When she was reminded that Congress has already taken
credit for passage of the women's bill in Rajya Sabha, she
said, "Democracy runs on numbers. In the House where it was
passed, government did not have a majority."
Leader of Opposition in the Upper House Arun Jaitley, who
was also present, referred to the din and use of marshals when
the contentious bill came up for discussion and passage.
"My de facto intervention became the de jure debate," he
claimed, adding that he had objected to the use of marshals
even in his speech. "You cannot have voting or debate in the
presence of marshals," he said.
"From the beginning till the end we were opposed to use of
marshals. Even during the debate, while supporting the bill,
we opposed the use of marshals. The government could have
handled it better," Jaitley added.
Swaraj asserted that BJP had effectively cornered the
government on price rise in Parliament.
"The government wanted that we discuss price rise as part
of the Motion of Thanks to President's Address or the debate
on the general budget but we wanted a focussed discussion on
the issue," she said, adding that Lok Sabha was adjourned on
two days due to opposition's protest.
Swaraj insisted that BJP acted responsibly by not forcing
an adjournment in Lok Sabha on price rise when the Railway
Budget was being presented.
She made a special mention of the unprecedented walkout by
the opposition during the budget presentation in protest
against inflationary policies announced by the government.
"BJP will bring cut-motion against the budget," she said.
The two BJP leaders attributed good floor-coordination as
the reason for the the opposition's good performance and said
the floor management of the government was poor.
BJP also took credit for deferring of the Civil Liability
for Nuclear Damage Bill, saying government was forced to
retreat in the face of opposition unity.
"We are opposing the bill as it is not in nation's
interest," Swaraj said. PTI