‘Smriti Irani’s portfolio to abuse Congress, Gandhi family’: KC Venugopal

NEW DELHI: Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal on Tuesday took a swipe at Union Minister Smriti Irani for her remark on former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and said that the Bhartiya Janata Party and the Prime Minister have given Smriti Irani a portfolio to abuse the Congress party and the Gandhi family.

“BJP and Prime Minister have given a portfolio for her (Smriti Irani) to abuse the Congress party and Gandhis. She is doing that duty to appease her master,” Venugopal said while speaking to reporters here.

Earlier, on Tuesday, Smriti Irani slammed Sonia Gandhi for not being present in the house when the Women’s Reservation Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha and said that the Gandhi family is only interested in empowering women in their family.

“Gandhi family is only interested in empowering the women in their family. They are not interested in empowering the women in poor or Adivasi or Dalit women,” said Irani.

The Congress’ parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said the women’s reservation bill “is ours”, as the bill was about to be tabled in Parliament.

The Congress on Monday said it welcomed the reported move as the party has been raising the demand for long.

Irani also hit out at Rahul Gandhi for leaving the House when the discussion on the bill was underway and the Congress party for not supporting the introduction of the Women’s Reservation Bill.

“It is unfortunate that Sonia Gandhi was absent today. Her son also left when the discussion on the bill was underway. It is even more unfortunate that when the Speaker asked who supported the bill when it was introduced, BJP and NDA supported it but the Congress party did not,” Irani said.

Earlier, on Tuesday, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the Bill in the first sitting of Lok Sabha in the new Parliament building. The Bill was named “Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam”.

Introducing the bill in the Lower House, the Union minister said, “This Bill relates to women’s empowerment. By amending Article 239AA of the Constitution, 33 per cent of seats will be reserved for women in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. Article 330A reservations of seats for SC/ST in the House of People.”

Meghwal said once the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is passed, the number of seats for women in the Lok Sabha will increase to 181.
Discussion for passage of the Bill in the House will be taken up on Wednesday.

The Bill will be taken up in Rajya Sabha on September 21, government sources said. (ANI)