The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has launched a frontal attack to name and shame Congress for stumping the passage of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) Bill in the Parliament, will reintroduce it in the Winter Session without many changes.
BJP sources said, the OBC bill will be almost the same with some minor changes and it is planning ways to rope in enough numbers in the Rajya Sabha for passage.
“We have more numbers in Rajya Sabha now for better floor management. Besides we are working with other parties to pass it successfully in the Upper House. There is no problem of numbers in the Lok Sabha,” said a senior BJP MP adding that the amendments moved by the Congress were constitutionally unsustainable as appointment to the Commission cannot be made caste-based and would be challenged in the Supreme Court. He further said that before taking it up the BJP will raise the stakes so high for the Congress that it will not dare to put up a similar kind of resistance to the bill as it did during the Monsoon Session.
The MP added that there is no need to add the concept of creamy layer and its recent revision from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh is taken care by time to time notifications in the rules.
During the Monsoon Session, the BJP’s efforts to give constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) by inserting a new article 338 B in the Constitution had miserably failed when it could not muster required numbers in the house amid the absence of several of its ministers.
In a high voltage drama the government had to watch its key bill fall with many of its key ministers among other MPs not present in the upper house when the 123rd constitutional amendment bill was taken up for voting.
SEEKING MAJORITY
During the Monsoon Session, there were only 126 MPs present in 245-member House during the voting. Among those present, the opposition had a clear edge over NDA benches that many empty benches.
