Lok Sabha Speaker admits no-confidence motion by Oppn against Modi govt

Though NDA has the numbers, Oppn wants to force PM to speak on Manipur crisis

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla admitted a no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition alliance, INDIA, against the Narendra Modi government on Wednesday afternoon. According to rule 198 of the Lok Sabha’s rules of procedure and conduct of business, the Speaker has to allot a day or days for taking up the motion within 10 days of accepting it. Birla will set a date after consulting floor leaders of all political parties represented in the House.
 
Leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, said the PM’s unwillingness to address Parliament on the ethnic unrest in Manipur forced them to move the motion. According to Rule 198, the motion expresses “want of confidence in the Council of Minister”. While the rule does not explicitly state that the PM has to reply to the discussion, Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha Saugata Roy argued the prime minister must since he leads the ministerial council.
 
This will be the first no-confidence motion in the current tenure of the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. In its previous term, Telugu Desam’s Srinivas Kesineni moved a no-confidence motion against the government on July 20, 2018, which was defeated with 135 MPs supporting it and 330 opposing it.
 
The Congress’ Lok Sabha Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi submitted the notice at 9.20 am and this will have him open the debate on the motion when the House takes it up.
 
When the Lok Sabha reconvened after an adjournment at noon, Birla said he had received Gogoi’s notice. According to the aforementioned rule, the Speaker counted heads to see if at least 50 MPs supported it. Opposition MPs, of belonging to INDIA, including Sonia Gandhi, Farooq Abdullah, and those from the DMK, Trinamool Congress, Janata Dal (United), and Nationalist Congress Party, stood up for the head count, and the Speaker admitted the motion.
 
Nama Nageswara Rao, an MP of Bharat Rashtra Samithi, not an ally of the Opposition INDIA coalition, also submitted a notice to move a no-confidence motion supported by the AIMIM. It was not taken up since Gogoi’s motion had already been accepted. “The objective of the no-confidence motion is to demand answers on the situation in Manipur,” said the Congress’ Manish Tewari.
 
The importance of the motion is symbolic since the NDA has a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha, with the YSR Congress Party, not aligned to either of the alliances, announcing its support to the government. The government is, therefore, likely to get at least 357 votes against the motion, significantly more than the halfway mark of 272, while INDIA and other opposition parties can manage 154 votes in support of the motion. The Biju Janata Dal, with 12 MPs, the Bahujan Samaj Party (9), the Akalis (2), and the Janata Dal (Secular) are yet to announce their stand.
 
There was some discontent among the Congress’ INDIA partners. Parties complained that the Congress filed the notice with the Lok Sabha Secretariat without getting the signatures of some of them when they had collectively decided to move the motion. According to sources, Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, “reprimanded” the Congress floor managers for their alacrity without taking others on board.