Interpreting the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) decision to bring a no-confidence motion against the United Progressive Alliance government as amounting to “coming closer” to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress on Sunday said the motion would fall through under the weight of 305 members of Parliament (MP).
“A 19-member party like TMC announcing to a bring no-confidence motion shows its closeness not only to BJP but also to the CPI(M) but it will be defeated by 305 members,” Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told reporters here. Counting the support of the RJD, SP, BSP and Janata Dal (Secular) in defeating the motion, he said, “The required number is 272 but the UPA has the support of 305 members.”
However, the spokesman saw a positive side to the announcement: “The positive part of Mamata's announcement is she will never again say that Congress is the B team of the CPI(M).” The TMC had yesterday announced it would bring a no-confidence motion against the UPA government during the winter session of Parliament to protest against foreign direct investment in retailing and corruption issues.
