The TDP and Jana Sena Party (JSP) are all set to endorse the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 being tabled in the Parliament on Wednesday (April 2, 2025). These two parties have 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha (LS) (TDP- 16 and JSP- two). The remaining three MPs of the BJP will support the Bill. Therefore, the NDA can count on 21 MPs in LS for taking the contentious piece of the legislation forward.
As far as the TDP is concerned, it proposed a total of six amendments to the draft, including four supplementary, and they were accepted by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), according to TDP floor leader in the Lok Sabha, Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu.
Being a constituent of the BJP-led NDA, the TDP would not be able strike a discordant note, hence it is a foregone conclusion that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu favours the Bill.
Meanwhile, JSP President and Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan expressed confidence that the Waqf (Amendment) Bill was good for the Muslim community.
He noted that the 31-member JPC did a thorough study of the Bill, and insisted that the British-era Waqf Act had to be modified as per the current requirements. Summing up, both the TDP and JSP will vote for the Wakf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 notwithstanding the concerns that might have been raised internally.
Published – April 02, 2025 12:22 pm IST
