Peeved over the raw deal meted out to women politicians in allotment of ticket by major political parties in Krishna district, the aspirants are mulling floating an all-women’s political party.
The fact that in the entire district, women candidates have been denied party tickets to contest either Assembly or Parliament elections, barring Sunkara Padma Sri, the single woman who is given a Congress ticket to contest from the Gannavaram Assembly segment, has left aspirants dejected.
“The scenario is very gloomy here and the only option left for women is to float an all-women’s party. Women have not been getting the opportunity they deserve. We have Sonia Gandhi as chairperson of the Congress and leaders like Y.S. Vijayalakshmi and Sharmila in the YSR Congress and yet women are left high and dry by the respective party leaders,” rues Congress party-backed former Mayor of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation Mallika Begum.
“Launch of a new political party, that too an all-women’s party, is a tall order but unless we need to achieve it to improve our representation in the legislative bodies. I intend to start the ground work immediately after the elections,” says Ms. Begum, who has filed nomination as an Independent candidate after being denied ticket by the Congress.
Raw deal“I know it is not possible to mobilise support at this juncture without a familiar party symbol. But I went ahead to file papers to show my resentment to the party leaders,” she says. “Despite being equipped with potential qualities of a good politician, women are not allowed to play prominent role in politics. This is precisely because we do not have enough women in decision-making and in the political process. We need to change this trend,” says Chennupati Vidya, former MP and a strong supporter of women quota bill.
