3 min readNew DelhiApr 11, 2026 05:37 AM IST
AFTER A meeting of its working committee on Friday, the Congress reiterated its stand that it supports the women’s reservation law but opposes delimitation without a fresh census. The party said it will call a meeting of top leaders of all INDIA bloc parties on April 15 to discuss the Opposition’s strategy on the issue.
The Congress also said the government should call an all-party meeting after April 29, once polling for the West Bengal Assembly elections is over.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in the Capital, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said the issue is not women’s reservation but delimitation and there is no information on its specifics.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will likely call a meeting of the Opposition leaders on April 15, ahead of the parliamentary sittings starting April 16, to formulate the way forward, Ramesh said.
He claimed the Centre’s move to call the special session is intended to influence the election results in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
“Heavens are not going to fall if the all-party meeting is called after April 29. These things will have a longstanding impact as the issue is about delimitation,” said Ramesh.
He said the special session was an attempt to divert attention from real issues like the “failure of the government’s foreign policy”.
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The CWC meeting, chaired by Kharge, was attended by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, party general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, Ramesh and Sachin Pilot, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the proposed constitutional amendments to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam and a Delimitation Bill to fast-track 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas on the basis of the 2011 Census data.
In his opening remarks during the CWC meeting, Kharge said the Centre’s proposed delimitation exercise related to the implementation of the women’s reservation law would have “grave consequences”.
Kharge said his party would formulate a collective strategy with others in the Opposition to move forward “unitedly” on this issue.
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He said the Narendra Modi government is convening the sitting of Parliament from April 16 with the sole intention of securing political advantage, which is a “violation” of the Model Code of Conduct, and is keen to pass the Constitutional Amendment Bill in “utmost haste”.
Kharge claimed that after a prolonged silence, the Modi government has suddenly become active on the issue of women’s reservation.
“A session of Parliament is scheduled to be held between April 16 and 18 to address the matter of providing 33% reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state Legislative Assemblies. To date, we have not received any formal proposal from the government regarding this matter. We have got to know some points only after reading an article authored by the Prime Minister,” Kharge said. “The Modi government is calling this parliamentary meeting with the intention of gaining political advantage. It wants to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill as quickly as possible,” said Kharge.
