Watch out for some thunder and lightning during the monsoon session of Parliament, which has just opened in the national capital. The longest-running soap opera with the highest TRP rating is not on Star Plus, Zee, Sahara or Star World, but is enacted in a circular structure with 16 revolving gates – the Parliament of India. The opera, sedately named Women's Reservation Bill, has taken so many twists and turns ever since it made its debut in 1996, that we the people can hardly wait for the new episode to unfold.

The national executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), just concluded at Raipur, has scripted a new element to the drama by backing a proposal to create 181 "double-member constituencies" in the Lok Sabha to give increased representation to women and find a way out of the impasse over the Women's Reservation Bill. Initially, the party was inclined to suggest 20 per cent share for women (about 104 double-member constituencies), but when the lady members protested, it agreed to increase the number to a sacrosanct 33 per cent.

According to party general secretary Pramod Mahajan, the resolution adopted at the national executive has "urged the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government to take the initiative in this matter and introduce a Constitutional amendment Bill in the current session itself". He also gratuitously suggested that the state Legislative Assemblies can follow suit and enhance the number of seats by one-third and make the new constituencies double-member ones.

What about the huge additional expenditure involved? How can Parliament accommodate so many more members? Never short of words, Mahajan observed that the Central Hall can be used to house everyone or a new Parliament House can be built to accommodate new members. As for expenses, the garrulous Mr Mahajan's contention was, "When our Budget is around three lakh crores, a few additional crores hardly matters."

Such capricious and audacious attitude towards spending public money comes naturally to fat cats like Mahajan who have enjoyed power and pelf at public expense for a long time. For him all that matters is that some women Parliamentarians and some women organisations have been clamouring for reservation and they have to be pacified come hell or high water to improve BJP's poll prospects in the coming elections. If some Male Chauvinist Pigs in his party, as well as the others, do not want to share the available cake with women, then it's time to order for a bigger and fatter cake. Ladies and gentlemen (dressed strictly in khadi), let the party begin!

Fortunately for hapless bystanders like us, there is no unanimity among political parties for the double- membership proposal which was first mooted by Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi. Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPM) leader Somanath Chatterjee's first reaction was, "Let the proposal come in a proper form and then we will consider it on merit." Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, the avowed MCP, who along with Laloo Prasad Yadav has consistently blocked all attempts to pass the Women's Reservation Bill, cagily remarked that his party would accept double-membership as it would not decrease the seats for men, but would really like all parties to accept 20 per cent reservation as per the Election Commission's formula.

The Congress Party under Sonia Gandhi has been a vehement supporter of the Women's Reservation Bill in "its original form". Deputy Leader Shivraj Patil, who attended the meeting convened by Manohar Joshi, conveyed that his party was against dilution of 33 per cent reservation for women without any sub- quota for backward classes and minorities. Now, dear citizens, get ready for some rib-tickling drama that will begin to unfold…

But seriously, has the BJP and the Lok Sabha Speaker ever considered the grave implications of increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats by a whopping 181 members? If one-third of the existing 544 seats become double-member, the size of the Lok Sabha will go up to 725. Apart from enormous strain on the exchequer, the bigger states will gain over smaller states in absolute terms and as a consequence, the former will exercise greater clout than the latter, just because the states with smaller population have faithfully followed the birth control measures! And what will be the basis for deciding on giving two representatives to some constituencies only? What happens to the well-thought-out Constitutional change to freeze the number of membership of Lok Sabha till the year 2025?

Besides, the women's groups are hardly likely to accept the new proposition which is designed to perpetuate the male domination. The whole concept is seriously flawed because women will not get one- third of the total seats of Lok Sabha when you turn 181 constituencies into "double-member" without disturbing the male bastions. The women members thus elected will always be seen as appendages and not worthy of being taken seriously.

One cannot help but wonder whether this double whammy has been thought of merely to sidetrack once again the basic issue of greater representation for women in the highest elected bodies of the country. Women already have representation in local bodies, and, barring a few exceptions, the experience has been far from satisfactory. In most cases, the "double-member" concept is already in operation as the husband or the father act brazenly on behalf of women, rendering the whole exercise into a farce. But any new system needs time to correct itself and let us accept the fact that women should be given due representation in Legislatures, however flawed it might turn out to be in the beginning.

How does one proceed when the views and actions are so badly polarised? I sincerely believe that any practical solution to get out of the quagmire would require the Brinda Karats, the Ranjana Kumaris, the Renuka Choudharys and the Sehba Farooquis to get down from their high horses and accept a more modest 10 or 15 per cent reservation to begin with, well within the existing number of constituencies. And they should also be prepared to share it proportionately with women from weaker sections – just as their male counterparts do – instead of trying to hog everything for privileged women like themselves. They need to stoop a little to see how the worst of MCPs come crawling behind them.