A day before the Vajpayee government will face a censure motion on the Gujarat riots, coal and mines minister Ram Vilas Paswan today resigned in protest against the government's refusal to remove Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. Besides, the BJP's other allies sent clear signals that though they had reconciled themselves to vote in favour of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on the censure motion, they would do so only because they had no choice.
Although Paswan said he had quit over the Gujarat developments, it was clear that his ire was also against the BJP deal with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the censure motion. Paswan has not been happy with the BJP's open promotion of another Dalit partner even though his stakes in Uttar Pradesh are negligible. With four MPs in the Lok Sabha, the departure of the Lokjana Shakti is unlikely to have a significant effect on the government's chances of winning on the censure motion. However, Paswan's calculation is that his gesture could start a deluge and induce other NDA partners like the Telugu Desam to take a stronger position against the BJP's continued backing of Modi.
The calculation was belied because even the Trinamool Congress leader, Mamata Banerjee, said though her party wanted Modi's resignation, it would support Vajpayee's government on the censure motion.
Banerjee was one of the first NDA leaders to demand Modi's ouster. At the NDA meeting held today, all the allies came with the copies of the whips they had issued to their MPs except for the National Conference and the Janata Dal (united). The National Conference said it would decide on support later.
