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Jaya congratulates Sonia, asks PM to introduce women's quota bill

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham general secretary J Jayalalitha today congratulated Congress president Sonia Gandhi for reserving 33 per cent of party organisational posts for women and urged Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to introduce the women'sreservation bill in the current session of Parliament itself.

In a statement, copies of which were released to the media in Madras, she recalled that the AIADMK had created a "world history" by reserving 33 per cent of its organisational posts for women. The Congress' decision to follow suit was indeed gratifying, she added.

Appealing to all political parties to cooperate with the Centre in passing the bill, providing 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies, she said it was incumbent upon Vajpayee to take alternative steps if the parties had any difficulty in passing the bill.

Jayalalitha also suggested that Vajpayee take steps for the drafting of a new bill to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and state legislatures by one-third of their present strengths and reserve the newly-created seats for women. "I don't think there can be any opposition to this," she added.

UNI

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