BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday said the party’s fight for 33 percent reservation to women in Parliament and Assembly will continue. National parties remember women empowerment during elections and commit in their manifesto only to conveniently forget after winning the elections. BJD will keep reminding the national parties about this forgotten promise, said Patnaik.

Taking a swipe at the national parties for talking about women empowerment only during polls and conveniently forgetting afterward, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Saturday said the regional party named after his father Biju Patnaik has all along been fighting for the rights of women.

Speaking on the occasion of 24th foundation day of Biju Janata Dal, Mr. Patnaik said BJD will make women reservation issue a national movement by raising it in every session of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and the Legislative Assembly.

The BJD president said the regional party named after his father Biju Patnaik has all along been fighting for the rights of women. Mr. Patnaik said his father was the first chief minister in the country who in 1992 reserved 33 percent of seats for women in the panchayats and urban polls in Odisha. "Basing on Biju Patnaik's ideology, our BJD government has raised the reservation ratio for women in panchayats and urban bodies to 50 percent," the chief minister said.

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