Arjun Ram Meghwal said on Sunday that the Congress could not muster the courage to pass the women's reservation bill during the UPA rule as it was afraid of losing power. He also accused the Congress of misleading people on the women's reservation bill.
The Congress led the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government between 2004 and 2014.
«For four years, our then leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said we would support the bill but they felt that if those opposing it withdrew their support (to the government), they would be out of power. They gave priority to power, not the bill,» Meghwal told reporters here.
«Congress could not muster the courage in the Lok Sabha… They thought that they would lose power (if the bill was passed), so they dropped the bill,» the minister of state (independent charge) for law and justice said.
The women's reservation bill, which seeks to reserve a third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, was passed by Parliament last week.
Meghwal also hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for stating that only three out of 90 secretaries in the central government were from Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
«Congress leader Rahul Gandhi repeated the same in Jaipur that there are three OBC secretaries at the Centre.