House paralysed by govt to avert trust vote: Oppn
UPROAR Govt calls motion a stunt but says ready for discussion
NEWDELHI: There was high drama in Parliament on Monday with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan, citing a disorderly house to disallow, for the second time (the first time was on Friday), no-confidence motions against the government.
The move provoked protests from opposition leaders with several claiming, outside the house, that the protests by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi that caused the disorderliness were stage-managed by the National Democratic Alliance.
The NDA has a clear majority in the Lok Sabha and there is no chance of the no-confidence motion going through, but analysts say the government seems eager to avoid the discussion that such a motion would entail in the house.
Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar denied these charges and said the government is ready to face a no-confidence motion both inside and outside Parliament. “The Modi government is ready to face the no-confidence motion. We have support outside as well as inside the House. The BJP government is a government of majority. And when we consider the NDA, we have two-thirds majority,” Kumar told reporters outside Parliament.
Still, on Monday, both Houses of Parliament were adjourned abruptly on Monday — the eleventh day in a row that this is happening — amid protests and disorder, casting a shadow on the remaining period of the ongoing budget session.
The TSR Congress and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) again served notice for no-confidence against the NDA government. The possibilities of any discussion on the motion dissolved in the sloganeering and protests by AIADMK demanding a Cauvery management board and TRS members asking for more reservation in government jobs and education institutes. TDP and YRSCP leaders stood up in support of special status for Andhra Pradesh, adding to the ruckus.
Opposition leaders claimed the AIADMK enjoys the tacit support of the NDA and that the protests were staged to scuttle chances of the no-confidence debate. “It appears that there is much more than a remarkable coincidence that a ruling party of the South India suddenly found it auspicious to raise the Cauvery issue on a day when there is a no-confidence motion against the BJP-led NDA. Such remarkable quirks of fate can’t happen without being pre-planned,” said senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
CPI(M)’s Md Salim added, “On the day the Finance Bill was taken up, there was greater ruckus and bigger disorder. Yet, the Finance Bill could be passed. But it is strange that the no-confi- dence motion can’t be taken. So, what is good for Finance bill is not good for a private motion.”
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan announced that while she had received no-confidence notices from the TDP and the TSRCP, proceedings couldn’t start if the House wasn’t in order. The Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) and SP members stood up in protest and demanded a debate on the no-trust motion.
The Rajya Sabha too saw similar scenes of disorder. Chairman Venkaiah Naidu criticised the uproar: “This is not in the interest of the country.”
Ever since the budget session resumed, daily disruptions have marred proceedings. Some opposition leaders fear that the government may go for an early adjournment of the session.