New Delhi, April 10 The Congress said on Friday that it will call a meeting of opposition parties to devise a joint strategy ahead of the parliamentary session, during which the government is set to amend the law on women's reservation and increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
The Congress also reiterated its demand that the government call an all-party meeting after April 29, when polling for the West Bengal election will be over.
Addressing a press conference here along with party colleague Mukul Wasnik after a CWC meeting, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the issue is not women's reservation, but it is about delimitation, and there is no information on its details.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will call a meeting of opposition leaders, most likely on April 15, ahead of the parliamentary sittings starting April 16, to formulate the way forward, Ramesh said.
He alleged that this move by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government is to influence the election results in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
"Heaven will not fall if an all-party meeting is called after April 29. These things will have a lasting impact, as the issue is about delimitation," Ramesh said.
He claimed that this is an attempt to divert attention from real issues.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, chaired by Kharge, was attended by former party chief 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.
Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, and former Union ministers Ambika Soni and Anand Sharma were also present.
The meeting comes days ahead of the three-day sitting of Parliament, during which the government will bring bills to implement the Women's Reservation Act before the 2029 parliamentary polls and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816, with 273 reserved for women.
The Congress had alleged earlier that the government had called the "special session" of Parliament to pass bills related to amending the women's quota law and delimitation to "grab political mileage" in the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu polls.
The Union Cabinet is learnt to have cleared on Wednesday draft bills that seek to implement the Women's Reservation Act before the 2029 parliamentary polls and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats.