Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday termed Atal Bihari Vajpayee as “good prime minister” who accepted his demand for women’s reservation but some of his own partymen did not let him work.
“Atalji acche pradhanmantri the. Lekin unki hi party ke log kaam karne nahi dete the” (Atalji was a good PM, but his own party men did not let him work),” Mr. Yadav said while addressing party workers at SP headquarter here.
Not against quota
On the issue of women’s reservation, Mr. Yadav said: “We are not against it. It should be at party level. Parties should give 15-20 per cent reservation to women (while distributing tickets). If you don’t give ticket, your registration would be cancelled.”
He said if the reservation was fixed at 15-20 per cent, the parties would give two per cent more tickets to women fearing that their registration could be cancelled.
Mr. Yadav said he wanted to thank former PM Vajpayee, who had sought his views on the issue.
“Atalji had called me. He later told me that your demand would be met but 25 per cent women reservation, as demanded by me at that time, is too much. I asked him to fix it to 15 per cent, and women could also contest on any other seats,” Mr. Yadav said while clearing his party’s views on the issue with party workers. - PTI
