Kolkata [India], September 21 : Accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal of stooping to a new low, West Bengal's Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday praised Union Minister Kiren Rijiju for refuting the claim of TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar that ISRO's women scientists were not being paid their salaries.
The MP, TMC, made the claim on the floor of the parliament on Wednesday.
Adhikari said the allegations were false and without basis.
Earlier on Wednesday, the TMC MP, while participating in the discussion on the women's reservation bill in the Lok Sabha, alleged that women scientists at ISRO were not getting their salaries on time.
Women scientists were key to India's Chadrayaan-3 project, which resulted in India becoming the first country to have a lander on the moon's unexplored south face.
Adhikari, speaking to ANI on the passage of the women's reservation bill in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, said while the Congress has the upcoming elections in mind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focused on women's empowerment.
Amrit Kal's empowerment during Amrit Kal's presidency, he said.
In a further swipe at the Congress, Narendra Modi said the government did not implement the women's reservation bill despite being in power for so long.
He said the Congress government had overturned the Supreme Court judgement in the Shah Bano case by bringing a law.
In the Shah Bano case, they overturned a Supreme Court judgment by bringing a law but sat on the women's quota law. So what the Congress is saying now is merely a statement keeping the upcoming elections in mind. What Modi-ji is doing for Devishakti and Narishakti is commendable, Adhikari said.
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the women's reservation bill, which provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
Lok Sabha passed the bill on Tuesday, replacing the old parliament building.
The bill was passed by a majority of the overall membership of the House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of members of the House 'present and voting'.