New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to face a no confidence motion within the next 10 days after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday admitted it following a notice in this regard by Congress parliamentarian Gaurav Gogoi. The allotted date has to be within 10 days from the day the motion is accepted.
The development also saw a video of the PM’s speech in Parliament in 2019 going viral. He had then asked the Opposition to prepare well and bring in a no confidence motion in 2023 too. The BJP-led NDA had won the no confidence vote in 2018 by a thumping 199 votes (325 for, 126 votes against). With 26 Opposition parties now forming the INDIA alliance to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the final score when the motion is put to vote would be interesting to note.
Lacking in numbers this time too to defeat the ruling dispensation, the Opposition contends that the no confidence motion is actually a strategy to make the Prime Minister speak in Parliament on Manipur even as the government has been insisting that it will be Union Home Minister Amit Shah who will reply to the debate on strife-torn Manipur.
When the House met at 12 pm following an adjournment, the Speaker said he received the notice from Gogoi to move a motion of no-confidence against the government and asked members supporting the admission of the motion to stand.
Subsequently, members of the new INDIA alliance, including Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi, stood up for a head count (it needs the support of a minimum of 50 MPs). The Speaker then admitted the motion and said a date and time for discussion on it will be fixed by him after consultation with all parties.
INDIA, the alliance of 26 opposition parties, had “decided to move the motion for a battle of perception” which they said they will win by cornering the government on the Manipur issue during the debate.
Gogoi said, “INDIA alliance is aware of its numbers in the Lok Sabha but this is not just about numbers. This is about Manipur’s fight for justice. The PM should address the country from inside the Parliament.”
HOW THE NUMBERS STACK UP?
- Majority mark in Lok Sabha is 272 seats
- BJP alone has 303 seats
- BJP-led NDA has 331 seats
- Opposition INDIA alliance has total 144 seats
- Jagan Mohan’ Reddy’s YSRCP to vote against the motion, calls it useless; Naveen Patnaik’s BJD too likely to abstain
MEANWHILE
In Manipur’s Kangpokpi district, a mob torched two buses used by security forces to transport their personnel. No casualty was reported. The incident occurred at Sapormeina when the buses were coming from Dimapur on Tuesday evening. While a group of people belonging to one of the warring communities stopped the buses and insisted that they would check if any member of the other community were on board, some from among them set the buses on fire.
