Bhubaneswar: A day after announcing 50 percent reservation for women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions in the state, chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday threw in his lot behind the much-delayed Women's Reservation Bill that is slated to be tabled in Parliament on the occasion of International Women’s Day on Monday.

“BJD will support the 33 percent reservation for women in the parliament and state assemblies. The party has always been there to stand up for the rights of women,” Naveen said.

Earlier, the BJP and Congress had issued whips to ensure that the Bill gets passed, when it comes up for discussion in Rajya Sabha on March 8. “The BJP has welcomed the bill and will support it in the Parliament,” Jual Oram, state BJP president said.

If the proposed Bill scrapes through the Parliament, then 49 seats in 147-member Orissa Legislative Assembly will fall in the kitty of women. Similarly, 7 out of the 21-member Lok Sabha seats would go in favour of the fair sex in Orissa. The state assembly has seven women legislators right now. The figure stood at 10 in 1995.