New Delhi: Yet another attempt to evolve a consensus on the Constitution Amendment Bill on women's reservation failed on March 7, but Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee threatened opponents the measure could be passed with majority support.

After a 90-minute meeting of political parties convened by Vajpayee where Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Samajwadi Party put up a stiff opposition to the Bill in its present and demanded quota within quota in it. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said government plans to bring the Bill in the current session of Parliament, in its current or diluted form.

"We got overwhelming support for the present Bill. Several parties said it should be brought as it is in the current session. Some parties favoured the Election Commission (EC) proposal," Swaraj said.

She said government would go by consensus but if this eluded both options, it would take up the Bill as it is.

The Bill in its current form, seeks to provide 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies while the EC proposal, a diluted form, makes it mandatory on parties to put up 33 per cent of women candidates in elections and calls for an amendment to the Representation of People's Act instead of a Constitution amendment.

The meeting saw the Prime Minister bluntly telling the leaders of Samajwadi Party and RJD, which opposed the Bill in its present form, that if there was no consensus, it would have to be passed by majority.

Asserting that Parliamentary Democracy functioned on the basis of majority, he said the minority has no right to tell the majority to give up its wish and should not cause any "gadbad" (trouble) in the endeavour.

PTI