The Chandrababu Naidu led No confidence motion against the NDA government seems to have gained some new suitors. The motion which needs the support of at least 50 members has been accepted by the Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. The Lower House is now all set to hold discussions on the no-confidence motion on Friday, voting on the issue too will take place on the same day as the Question Hour has been suspended for Friday. The no confidence motion which is bound to fail in the Lower House owing to the dominance of BJP and allies, is still receiving the backing of opposition parties. Senior leader and ex-Congress President Sonia Gandhi has decided to support the motion and has also expressed confidence that the motion will be successful and will sail through when it goes down to vote on Friday. “Who says we don’t have the numbers.” said UPA chief Sonia Gandhi when she was asked about the fate of the motion.
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP has a brute majority in the Lower House which has sealed the fate of the motion from the very onset. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar expressed the same opinion, stating that, “Everything will be clear after the discussion. I want to make it clear in the House that the people of the country have full confidence on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.” Ananth Kumar also said that the NDA government was not at all worried about the motion being voted on and it would make no difference to the government.
There have also been reports that the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress leaders have asked the Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to postpone discussions and voting on the no-confidence motion to Monday. The TMC leaders have requested the Speaker to postpone the voting as “At least 35 leaders will be missing from the discussion” according to a TMC party leader. These leaders are scheduled to stay in West Bengal on Friday according to the TMC leader. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has himself requested the Speaker to postpone the discussions to Wednesday as some MPs might not be able to attend the voting owing to prior commitments. Kharge, who is the Leader of Party in the Lok Sabha, himself seems to be unsure of his allies being present in the House on the day when such an important discussion is going to take place.
These reports and statements from Congress and other opposition parties demonstrate the lack of unity in their ranks. BJP itself has more than 273 members in the Lok Sabha and comfortably sits with the majority. It is highly unlikely, if not impossible, that their will be any cross voting as, unlike the opposition, NDA is very disciplined and its members would not be betraying the alliance. All these tantrums by the Congress and other opposition leaders will serve no purpose in the long run, these are just the measures adopted by them to hamper constructive debate on topics of national importance in the monsoon session. This is nothing but a cheap trick to stop progressive work and to embroil the NDA and BJP in futile controversies and this is why this no confidence motion will die down. Some political drama and crocodile tears are about to be shed by the opposition parties who have failed to do meaningful work when they had the power and position in their hands.
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