New Delhi: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on March 4 said government proposed to create a consensus among political parties on the contentious Women's Reservation Bill and bring it before Parliament during the current Budget session.

"We proposed to bring the Bill in this very session and get it passed provided there is a consensus among political parties," he said replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's address in the Rajya Sabha.

The Prime Minister said majority of political parties were committed to the Bill which provided for reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.

The House witnessed a light-hearted exchange between the Prime Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Laloo Prasad Yadav who claimed that Vajpayee was "anti-women and, therefore, he did not marry".

Vajpayee retorted that Yadav must be a supporter of women as he had given the post of Bihar's Chief Minister to his wife.

Yadav, in turn, said while Mughal Emperor Shahjahan had built the Taj Mahal after the death of his queen, he had given the post while his wife was still alive.

PTI