No-confidence motion: JD(U) to support Centre, BJD walks out of Parliament

The Janata Dal (United) will support Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government on the no-confidence motion moved by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) over the Andhra Pradesh special category status issue.

"We are with the ruling government," said JD(U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told media outside Parliament on Friday.

While the JD(U) will be supporting the Narendra Modi government, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) walked out of the Lok Sabha during the discussion.

On the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan accepted the TDP's no-confidence motion.

The Narendra Modi-led Government will be facing its first no-confidence motion, four years after winning the 2014 mandate as the first single-party majority in three decades.

The NDA last faced the no-confidence motion under the leadership of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003. The Vajpayee-led government at the Centre had defeated the motion with an overwhelming majority.

To defeat the no-confidence motion, the BJP would require to gain a mark of 268 votes. The NDA at present counts 312 members in the 535-member Lok Sabha, including 274 members of the BJP.