'Ironic' of Sonia to launch women reservation campaign now: BJP

New Delhi [India], May 21 (ANI): After Sonia Gandhi launched a signature campaign for reservation of women in the Parliament and the Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday termed the move "ironic", citing the Congress president could have taken this decision during the UPA regime. "Isn't it ironic that Sonia Gandhi is talking about women reservation when she had every opportunity to ensure it when her party was in power for over 10 years?" BJP leader Shaina NC told ANI. Shaina, however, hoped that the women reservation issue gains impetus from every political party and a concrete action is taken on the same. "If you have a 48 percent women electorate, we need to have higher than 12 percent reservation," she added. Earlier in the day, Sonia launched a campaign for 33 percent of seats in Assembly and Parliamentary elections for women. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi and son-in-law Robert Vadra also endorsed it by signing the campaign. This campaign will last till August 20, i.e. till former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary. It was during former Prime Minister Deve Gowda's tenure that Women's Reservation Bill was introduced in 1996. While the bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010, it still has a 'pending' status in the Lok Sabha. (ANI)