Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday launched a sharp attack on the Opposition over the stalled Women’s Reservation Bill at a press conference at the BJP office on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg that drew a conspicuous show of solidarity from party women leaders.

Calling recent parliamentary developments “deeply unfortunate”, Gupta framed her argument in unambiguous moral terms. “Daughters of this country are still fighting for their rightful place. How can democracy claim victory when daughters lose?” she asked, taking particular aim at parties that had once championed the slogan “Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon”, but now, according to her, stood against the very cause they once claimed to represent.

She traced the Bill’s troubled history across three decades of obstruction and challenged the Opposition’s demand for an immediate 33 per cent carve-out from the existing 543 Lok Sabha seats. “