New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Sunday that its position on the women’s reservation bill has not changed, and the remarks of party leader Gopinath Munde about a quota for other backward classes (OBCs) in the bill should be seen in context of his presence at an OBC meeting.
“There is need to understand the context as he (Munde) was attending an OBC meeting. His remarks were in the spirit of discussions at the meeting,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman told IANS.

After a convention of OBC leaders in Mumbai Saturday, Munde said that he would take up the demand for an OBC quota within 33 percent reservation for women at the party forum.

Sitharaman said senior leaders take up several issues during the party’s internal deliberations for discussion and formalising a stand.

She said the party’s position on the bill, as specified by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj last Monday, has not changed.

After a meeting of political parties called by the government to reach a consensus on the bill, Sushma Swaraj said that the BJP was opposeed to the demand for a quota within the quota.

Sitharaman said Munde also made it clear that he was bound by the party line.

The women’s reservation bill, which provides 33 percent quota to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, has been passed by the Rajya Sabha. However, it has not been introduced in the Lok Sabha yet due to lack of consensus.