Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s plan to move a no-confidence motion on the opening day of the winter session of Parliament against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has evoked a lukewarm response from Opposition parties, including the Left parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Both the Communist Party of India-Marxist or CPI (M), and the Communist Party of India (CPI) have publicly stated they would like to “wait and see” how the TMC with its 19 MPs manages to garner the minimum support of 50 MPs needed to move a no-confidence motion.
Although a section within the BJP are in favour of supporting the motion, the party is grappling with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies, Janata Dal (United) and Akali Dal, who are not too keen on supporting such a move as it could end up helping to consolidate support for the government.
The BJP leaders want to take a final decision only after the NDA meeting on Thursday. While some within the BJP want to support the motion, as they believe that it will help NDA bring together all the opposition parties, the party leadership wants to first see which parties are supporting Banerjee’s no-confidence motion and only then would they be able to take a final call. Senior party leaders argue that a no-confidence motion without support of the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Left parties would only consolidate the position of the UPA in Parliament and it would not help the fight against corruption and foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
| NUMBER PUZZLE |
 I&B Minister Manish Tewari: “It has never happened that a party with 19 members has sought to move a no-confidence motion” How the numbers stack up: |
- UPA: 305 (including Congress 206, DMK 18, National Conference 3, RJD 4, RLD 5, IUML 2 and SP 22, BSP 21)
- Trinamool Congress: 19
- NDA: 151 (BJP: 115, JD (U) 20, Shiv Sena 11, Akali Dal 4, Haryana Janhit Congress 1)
- Left: 24 ( CPIM 16, CPI 4, RSP 2, Forward Block 2)
- BJD: 14
- AIADMK: 9
BJP leaders are also trying to get in touch with other Opposition leaders such as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, leader of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, chief of Biju Janata Dal.
The UPA is, however, unfazed with this threat from Banerjee. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Information & Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said, “It has never happened that a party with 19 members has sought to move a no-confidence motion.”
Tewari rued that Banerjee is reaching out for support on her party’s no-confidence motion to even those Opposition parties( Left) “which she has fought for the last 30 years”.
“I hope that she will reintrospect and reconsider her decision seriously because till three months back, she was part of this government and TMC ministers were part of it,” he said.
Despite Banerjee taking the unprecedented step of urging her arch rivals to extend support to her no-confidence motion, the Left has reacted with caution.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi on Monday, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said, that the motion has “no purpose”. He said the CPI(M) will talk to all Opposition parties, including the BJP, on the issue. “In next 48 hours, things will come clear on no- confidence motion... whether there will be enough MPs to move the motion. Some of the bigger parties in the Opposition are not in favour of any such (move). “Such a motion is not the right tactic. We ourselves do not have any problems in moving such a motion, but it is not the right thing to do now. Why should we help government win a vote of confidence? Mamata Banerjee might be thinking this is the right (move), but we don’t (think so),” he said.
CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta has publicly stated that Left parties would “neither protect the government in case of a voting, nor take the responsibility to garner support for admission of (no-confidence) motion”. He said, “We are planning to bring an adjournment motion.”
The CPI, CPI(M), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Bloc have jointly moved motions under Rule 184 of Lok Sabha’s Rules of Business and Rule 167 in Rajya Sabha, which entail voting to reject the government’s decision on FDI in multi-brand retail.
The UPA at present is comfortably placed at 305 with the BSP and the SP supporting it and has more than the required 272 to defeat the no-confidence motion. The UPA government is confident of sailing through the vote of strength, should it come to that.
