Govt confident of acing trust vote RS starts on a promising note, passes two bills
ALL SET BJP certain that motion will fail as it will get support of its allies, nonnda parties
NEWDELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is confident that the no-confidence motion moved against it will fail with even parties outside the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) grouping supporting the government on Friday as it faces the first floor test in Parliament in 15 years.
Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar said allies of the BJP, such as the Shiv Sena, the Akali Dal, Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and others would throw their weight behind the BJP, which, on its own has 273 MPS, enough to dismiss the challenge.
Interestingly, in 2003, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA government faced a floor test in the last monsoon session before an election year.
“The NDA will be united in vote against the motion. You will see that even parties outside the NDA will give support to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When voting takes place at 6pm on Friday, it will be NDA plus,” Ananth Kumar said.
The signal is clear that the party, while taking disgruntled allies such as the Shiv Sena on board, will strive to get support from the AIADMK and the BJD, the two regional powerhouses that are vehemently opposed to the Congress. However, BJD’S Lok Sabha leader Bhartruhari Mahatab said, “We are sitting in the Opposition and in the debate we will oppose the government.”
“Even if some of the fence-sitters opt to abstain from the voting or walk out, it will numerically benefit the ruling camp,” said another BJP functionary.
Kumar lashed out at the Congress for moving a no-confidence notice and added that as per the rules, the TDP’S notice might be finally accepted for debate as it was the first to serve it.
“Many opposition parties have brought no-confidence motions. From the government side, we are ready to give a befitting reply to this motion. In the last four years, in one state poll after
ONE OF THE BILLS IS ABOUT THE MERGER OF SIX SUBSIDIARY BANKS WITH THE SBI AND ANOTHER ALLOWS THE CENTRE TO REQUISITION IMMOVABLE PROPERTY (OR LAND) FOR ANY PUBLIC PURPOSE
another, Prime Minister Modi has found overwhelming support. We are part of the government in 21 states. And after this sign of support, the Opposition has brought a notice. They have a right to do so in democracy but we are 100% sure we will defeat them,” he said.
Opposition leaders maintained that even if the no-confidence motion is based on the unfulfilled promise of special package for Andhra Pradesh after the creation of Telangana , a wider range of issues will come up during the debate. Atrocities against SCS and STS, the government’s inability to generate job jobs, communal tension, and the Kashmir situation, will all be discussed, according to them.
Kumar said the BJP will reply to all the “lies spread by the Opposition” with facts and figures.
He denied that the BJP did not allow the no-confidence motion to come up in the last session. “Accepting or not accepting any notice is the sole prerogative of the speaker. Also, please remember that AIADMK (which disrupted proceedings leading to frequent adjournments) is an independent party.”
The motion has been slated for debate at 11am on Friday. NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha overcame an initial spell of disruptions to pass two bills and transacted a full question hour on Wednesday, the opening day of the Monsoon session.
One of the bills is about the merger of six subsidiary banks with the State Bank of India (SBI) and another allows the central government to requisition immovable property (or land) for any public purpose.
In the last two sessions, the Upper House took up Question Hour only on six days. It managed to conduct Question Hour on only one day in the Budget session.
The prospect of House’s performance looks brighter this session. Senior officials revealed that during the allparty meeting on Tuesday, Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu almost had an altercation with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) member YS Chowdury when the latter spoke about the rights of a member to protest.
“(Venkaiah) Naidu gave a stern warning and told Chowdhury that he would take tough measure if Chowdhury or any of his party leaders tries to disrupt proceedings. That message was received,” said an official familiar with the matter on the condition of anonymity.
On Wednesday, the lawmakers belonging to the TDP, however,insistedthatthe discussion on special package for Andhra Pradesh should happen immediately.
The chair responded by saying that for a discussion to take place, the minister concerned has to be ready.
Still, this did result in a small disruption and the house had to be adjourned.
Naidu quickly called another meeting in his chamber and there the opposition leaders and the government agreed on a detailed discussion next week on implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act and the promises made to the State.
In the afternoon many members in the Upper House expressed concern over bad loans and “political influence” in the banking system while discussing the merger.
Responding to the almost two-hour debate, Minister of State (MOS) for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said the merger would make the State Bank of India profitable, improve its working capital and enable it to offer better services to its customers.
Initiating the debate, Congress’ Jairam Ramesh said “I would like the minister of state to give an authoritative statement on the behalf of the government that privatisation of banks or denationalisation of banks is not on government’s agenda.”