Govt hurrying women's quota law implementation for political mileage: Kharge to PM
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New Delhi (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that calling Parliament's special sitting amid state polls reinforces belief that the government is hurrying the implementation of women's reservation law for "political mileage".
In a letter to PM Modi, Kharge reiterated the demand that an all-party meeting be called to discuss the delimitation issue, which is being linked to the amendments to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, after April 29.
Kharge's letter came in response to a missive from the prime minister on the special sitting of Parliament for a discussion on the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam from April 16.
"I have just received your letter on the special session of Parliament for a discussion on the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam from the 16th of April," the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha said in his letter to Modi dated April 11.
"As you are aware, the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 was passed by Parliament unanimously in September 2023. At that time, on behalf of the Indian National Congress, I had demanded that this important law should become effective immediately," Kharge said.
The Congress president pointed out that though in his letter, the PM has mentioned that there was broad consensus for its immediate implementation, he did not implement the same.
"It has been 30 months since then, and now this special sitting has been called without taking us into confidence and your government is seeking our cooperation again without revealing any details on the delimitation going to be done. You will appreciate that without details of the delimitation and other aspects, it would be impossible to have any useful discussion on this historic law," Kharge said.
"You mention in your letter that your government has engaged in dialogue with political parties regarding this. However, I am pained to point out that this goes against the truth since all the Opposition parties have been urging the government to call an all-party meeting after the current round of elections is over on April 29th, 2026 to discuss the Constitution amendments being contemplated," he said.
The calling of a special sitting during the ongoing state elections only reinforces the Congress' belief that the government is hurrying the implementation of the law to gain "political mileage" rather than truly empower women, Kharge said.
"I am also pained to write that the past record of the government in matters of public importance whether it is demonetisation, GST, census or even those pertaining to the federal structure like implementing Finance Commission recommendations and tax devolutions, does not inspire any confidence," the Congress chief said.
The constitutional amendments being planned will affect both the Centre and the states and it is important that all parties and states, however small they may be, are heard in a democracy, Kharge asserted.
"If the special sitting is meant to 'strengthen our democracy' and 'moving forward together, taking everyone along' as you write in the letter, then I would suggest that the government convene an all-party meeting any time after April 29th to discuss the delimitation issue which is being linked to the amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023," Kharge said.
The exchange of letters between the PM and Kharge comes days ahead of the three-day sitting of Parliament, during which the government is set to bring bills to implement the Women's Reservation Act before the 2029 parliamentary polls and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816, with 273 reserved for women.
The Congress last week had accused the Narendra Modi government of playing politics in the name of women's reservation law and asserted that the proposed delimitation exercise linked to it was "not constitutional" and could have "grave consequences" that warrant thorough deliberation after the ongoing assembly polls.
At a Congress Working Committee meeting, it was decided that Kharge would call a meeting of top leaders of all opposition parties, most likely on April 15, to discuss and formulate a joint strategy for the "special session" of Parliament from April 16 to 18.
While elections in Puducherry, Assam and Kerala were held on April 9, polls in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. In Tamil Nadu, polls will be held in a single phase on April 23.
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Iran-US talks in Islamabad held via indirect, direct channels: sources
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Islamabad (PTI): The Iran-US peace talks were conducted first indirectly through Pakistan and later through direct negotiations between the two sides, official sources said on Sunday.
Pakistan remained involved at every stage of the process, with the talks beginning with separate meetings of the US and Iranian delegations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday.
This was followed by an exchange of messages between the two sides through Pakistani interlocutors, the sources said.
The Iranian delegation was led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqir Galibaf, while the US team was headed by Vice President JD Vance.
According to sources, the negotiations then moved to direct talks between the visiting delegations, which continued for about two-and-a-half hours in the presence of Pakistani officials.
In the next phase, a one-hour break was taken and technical aspects of the demands presented by the two sides were discussed at the expert level. The exchange of messages on technical aspects continued until late at night.
However, by Sunday morning, it became clear that the differences could not be bridged, leading US Vice President JD Vance to announce at a brief press conference that the talks ended without a deal.
The sources said Pakistan remains hopeful of further rounds of talks, though no date or venue has been finalised so far.
The Pakistani government had earlier said it would continue to play its role as a mediator and expressed hope that the talks would prove to be a step towards resolving the dispute.
The Iranian delegation had arrived in Islamabad on Friday night, while the US team arrived on Saturday morning.
The US side also included President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, while Iran was also represented by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and other senior leaders.
The two sides travelled to Islamabad, days after Iran and the US announced a two-week ceasefire on April 8. It was the first direct, high-level engagement between Iran and the US since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The failure to arrive at an agreement following the face-to-face negotiations between the two sides raised doubts over the effectiveness of their fragile two-week ceasefire as well as the prospect of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to stabilise the global energy market.
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