TRS abstains from triple talaq debate

HYDERABAD: Saying that it neither wants to support nor oppose the Triple Talaq Bill, the TRS on Thursday staged a vanishing act in the

Lok Sabha

before the introduction of the bill. The Muslim

Women

(Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017, which criminalises the practice of instant triple talaq, was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union law minister Ravi Sankar Prasad at about 12.45 pm after giving prior notice. TRS MPs, who have been agitating over the bifurcation of the HC, came out of LS a minute before the introduction. They returned only after it was introduced.

Not to rub the BJP on the wrong side and at the same time not to be seen as a party supporting the bill, the TRS leadership has taken this last minute decision to be absent when the bill was being introduced. This even as their ally in Hyderabad, MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi cried foul over the bill.

Sources said that the BJP had requested the TRS to support the crucial Triple Talaq Bill. Not to say no to the request and at the same time not wanting to sever ties with the MIM, the TRS party leadership decided to abstain from the

House

during the introduction. According to the sources, the party will repeat the vanishing act when the Bill is debated so that the TRS is not forced to spell out its stand.

When asked about the party's stand, TRS

Karimnagar

MP B Vinod told TOI: "We are not supporting or opposing the Triple Talaq Bill". Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is said to have given strict instructions to all MPs not to talk or participate in any talk shows on the issue. The party leadership is playing its cards close to its chest as the political situation in India, according to their reading, is fluid.