Women reservation bill: Smriti Irani attacks Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: Union minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday, in a scathing attack on Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, said in Lok Sabha that the Congress leader clarified in her speech earlier in the day that the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution were not done by a specific (Gandhi) family but by the Narasimha Rao government.

Irani, while participating in the discussion on the women's reservation bill, referred to Sonia Gandhi mentioning Rao's name while speaking on the bill in the morning.

The minister said that it was the same Narasimha Rao, whose dead body was not allowed inside his own party's office.

Irani further said that the women's reservation bill which was passed in Rajya Sabha during Manmohan Singh's government, had a provision for reservation only for 10 years, whereas in the current bill being discussed, the reservation will be for 15 years.

Further attacking the Congress, Irani said that while the BJP runs according to the Constitution, the opposition party believes in destroying it.

If we look from the perspective of the dignity of the Constitution, then (Goddess) Lakshmi has taken a Constitutional form through this bill, she said further.

With inputs from IANS