"For the first time in my 32 years in Parliament, I am seeing a party with 19 members moving a no-confidence motion," an upbeat Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said in a brief interaction with reporters ahead of the Winter Session beginning Thursday.
Projecting Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee as a mercurial leader, he said, "She was on this (government) side till the last session, now she is on that (opposition) side."
Taking a dig at TMC, he said, "a former ally of 19 members threatening us does not mean it is a threat. It does not mean we are counting our numbers. We are confident of our numbers ... We are not a government without numbers. As and when required we will establish it on the floor of the House."
Nath, who had convened a meeting of the chief whips of all political parties earlier in the day, said Trinamool leaders did mention that they planned to move a no-confidence motion on the first day but "no other party made any comment on their support".
Leader of the Lok Sabha and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde also dismissed any threat to the government.
"We are not not afraid. We have the numbers," he said separately.
Insisting that FDI in retail was a policy matter, Nath said that never in the past has there been a voting in Parliament on a policy issue. (MORE)