Senior leader of the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi responded with 'apna hai...' when asked about the Women's Reservation Bill, introduced in Lok Sabha today (19 September).

This comes just a day after Minister of State Prahlad Singh Patel announced on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that the Cabinet had approved the Women's Reservation Bill. Patel, however, deleted the post within an hour.

Although there was no official statement about the details of the cabinet meeting, which lasted for over 90 minutes on Monday (18 September) evening, there were widespread speculations that the women's reservation bill was indeed approved.

Government sources have indicated that the Cabinet has approved the bill and it is expected to be presented in the special session of Parliament.

On Tuesday (19 September), Kapil Sibal through a post on X questioned why Prime Minister Modi waited for almost 10 years to introduce the bill when most political parties are in support.

Sibal speculated that the reason for the delay might be the upcoming 2024 elections. He also warned that if the government does not include quota for OBC women, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may lose in Uttar Pradesh in 2024.

On Monday, Rajya Sabha member and Congress general secretary, K C Venugopal, emphasised the importance of including women in decision-making processes for India's true prosperity.

He mentioned that the Women's Reservation Bill was introduced in 2010 by Sonia Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh and passed in Rajya Sabha.

Venugopal urged the BJP to pass the bill in Lok Sabha without delay if they were serious about it.

Bharat Rashtra Samithi MLC K Kavitha, expressed her approval of the reported decision by the Union Cabinet to approve the Women's Reservation Bill. However, she expressed concern about the specific contents of the bill.