CPM MOVES ITS OWN NOTICE FOR NOTRUST VOTE AGAINST GOVT

NEWDELHI: With just eight days to go before the end of the current Parliament session, two Left parties — the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party — served notices on Monday for no-confidence motions against the National Democratic Alliance government, joining the Congress and two Andhra parties in an attempt to corner the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Parliament will resume the budget session on Tuesday after a three-day break. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have been paralysed amid protests by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to press their demands for an increase in job quotas in Telangana and the setting up of a board to manage the Cauvery waters.

The CPI(M)’S parliamentary leader P Karunakaran and RSP’S sole MP NK Premachandran filed the no-confidence notices on Tuesday.

“At an informal meeting on Thursday we, some opposition parties decided to give our own notices. If the notices are accepted then the discussions will see important national issues apart from regional issues like problems of Andhra Pradesh,” said Md Salim, the CPI(M)’S Lok Sabha leader.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said his party’s no-confidence notice was an attempt to push the BJP into the psychological battle at a time the ruling side was unsure about the positions of its allies such as the Shiv Sena and the Shiromani Akali Dal.