BJP MP Adityanath set to defy whip on Women's Bill

Amid reports of differences in the Bharatiya Janata Party over the women's bill, its MP Yogi Adityanath said on Thursday that there should be "internal democracy" on such issues and cautioned the party not to fall into Congress' "trap" of diverting the nation's attention from other important matters.

"There are other important issues like terrorism and Naxalism, but a week has been wasted in Parliament by discussing reservation for women," he told reporters in New Delhi."Reservation is not the need of the hour, it is not required now, as there are other issues of national interest to discuss. It is a conspiracy on the part of the Congress to divert attention from such issues and if BJP falls in this trap, then it would be unfortunate," Adityanath said.

He said he was not against the bill but the way it was passed in Rajya Sabha through deployment of marshals."I am not against the bill, but the way it was cleared in Rajya Sabha with the help of marshals is not acceptable to us. If it is introduced in a similar manner in Lok Sabha, the MPs will be forced to resign," the Gorakhpur MP said.

Hinting at differences in BJP over the party's stand on the bill, he said, "Internal democracy within the party is also important, especially on such issues. All decisions cannot be taken by sitting in Delhi and representatives of people should also be taken into confidence for their opinion and there should be internal discussion on it."

Adityanath claimed that he did not see any possibility of any whip being issued by BJP in the Lok Sabha for the bill, as it would not be introduced there at all. "The bill has been put in deep freeze, it will not be introduced in Lok Sabha," he said.