Govt confident of acing trust vote
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 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.