(July 22, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Latest media reports suggest Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has the required support to win the trust vote in Parliament on Tuesday.
The battle for numbers entered the last lap with hopes hinging on abstentions and last minute defections from rival camps. (Image: The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh arrives at Parliament House to attend the 14th session of 14th Lok Sabha, in New Delhi on July 21, 2008.)
Hours before a cliff hanger trust vote, there was good tidings for the Congress-led UPA when the two-member National Conference announced it will vote for teh ruling coalition while a lone Mizo National Front (MNF) MP Vanlalzawma said he would abstain.
Ending the suspense on which way the NC will go, the party chief Omar Abdullah said this morning his party would vote in favour of the UPA government.
As the groupings for and against the government tried to rustle up the numbers, the fencesitters held centre stage amid reports eight to ten NDA MPs may either abstain or violate party whips that will help the ruling coalition pull through.
Meanwhile, the Lok Sabhay approved leave of absence to six members, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for not attending the House during previous sessions.
The recommendation for the leave of absence was made by the Committee on Absence of Members from the Sittings of the Lok Sabha, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said.
While Vajpayee did not attend the House during the Winter Session last year and Budget Session this year, two other BJP MPs — Kailash Joshi and D C Srikantappa — who were not present during the last two sessions of the House.
The remaining three MPs are Mohd Shahabuddin (RJD), Ateeq Ahmed (SP) and Tukaram Ganpatrao Renge Patil (Shiv Sena), did not attend the previous two sessions. After taking permission of the House,
Chatterjee announced that their leave was granted.
The target of 271 for getting the majority will come down in the event of abstentions setting the stage for a photo finish in which the Manmohan Singh government may just scrape through.
The BJP said their MPs were being lured by the UPA in a desperate attempt to save the government.
‘We will register a complaint with Speaker against the attempt by the UPA to lure our parliamentarians in their desperate attempt to save the government. We have demanded that the Speaker should intervene and stop this mockery of the parliamentary system,’ a senior party leader said.
Two of the saffron party’s MPs - one each from Gujrat and Uttar Pradesh - have reportedly openly defied the party whip and have announced that they would vote for the government.
The complaint from the opposition bench comes in the wake of reports that an MP from Karnataka is also now set to desert the party and vote for the UPA.
On the other hand, Samajwadi leader Amar Singh alleged that six Lok Sabha MPs from his party were being forcibly kept inside the Uttar Pradesh Bhavan ahead of the crucial trust vote and charged Chief Minister Mayawati with playing ‘coercive politics’.
Amar Singh said one or two of the ‘detained’ MPs may be rebels from his party. Targeting archrival and the BSP supremo, Amar Singh said
Mayawati was resorting to all political tactics to wean away his party MPs who are under constant threat from her government.
Claiming there was no split in his party - which has 38 MPs he alleged that rumours of a division in the SP was being spread by Mayawati.
Elsewhere, possibly sniffing a triumph, a more confident Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flashed another victory sign and thumbs up as he strode confidently into the Lok Sabha this morning to attend the proceedings.
The UPA however was not without any anxious moments when Samajwadi party leader Amar Singh alleged that six party MPs were being forcibly kept by BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Mayawati in the UP bhavan here ahead of the trust vote.
The Samajwadi has a strength of 38 MPs that will largely help the government to sail through.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
The battle for numbers entered the last lap with hopes hinging on abstentions and last minute defections from rival camps. (Image: The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh arrives at Parliament House to attend the 14th session of 14th Lok Sabha, in New Delhi on July 21, 2008.)
Hours before a cliff hanger trust vote, there was good tidings for the Congress-led UPA when the two-member National Conference announced it will vote for teh ruling coalition while a lone Mizo National Front (MNF) MP Vanlalzawma said he would abstain.
Ending the suspense on which way the NC will go, the party chief Omar Abdullah said this morning his party would vote in favour of the UPA government.
As the groupings for and against the government tried to rustle up the numbers, the fencesitters held centre stage amid reports eight to ten NDA MPs may either abstain or violate party whips that will help the ruling coalition pull through.
Meanwhile, the Lok Sabhay approved leave of absence to six members, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for not attending the House during previous sessions.
The recommendation for the leave of absence was made by the Committee on Absence of Members from the Sittings of the Lok Sabha, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said.
While Vajpayee did not attend the House during the Winter Session last year and Budget Session this year, two other BJP MPs — Kailash Joshi and D C Srikantappa — who were not present during the last two sessions of the House.
The remaining three MPs are Mohd Shahabuddin (RJD), Ateeq Ahmed (SP) and Tukaram Ganpatrao Renge Patil (Shiv Sena), did not attend the previous two sessions. After taking permission of the House,
Chatterjee announced that their leave was granted.
The target of 271 for getting the majority will come down in the event of abstentions setting the stage for a photo finish in which the Manmohan Singh government may just scrape through.
The BJP said their MPs were being lured by the UPA in a desperate attempt to save the government.
‘We will register a complaint with Speaker against the attempt by the UPA to lure our parliamentarians in their desperate attempt to save the government. We have demanded that the Speaker should intervene and stop this mockery of the parliamentary system,’ a senior party leader said.
Two of the saffron party’s MPs - one each from Gujrat and Uttar Pradesh - have reportedly openly defied the party whip and have announced that they would vote for the government.
The complaint from the opposition bench comes in the wake of reports that an MP from Karnataka is also now set to desert the party and vote for the UPA.
On the other hand, Samajwadi leader Amar Singh alleged that six Lok Sabha MPs from his party were being forcibly kept inside the Uttar Pradesh Bhavan ahead of the crucial trust vote and charged Chief Minister Mayawati with playing ‘coercive politics’.
Amar Singh said one or two of the ‘detained’ MPs may be rebels from his party. Targeting archrival and the BSP supremo, Amar Singh said
Mayawati was resorting to all political tactics to wean away his party MPs who are under constant threat from her government.
Claiming there was no split in his party - which has 38 MPs he alleged that rumours of a division in the SP was being spread by Mayawati.
Elsewhere, possibly sniffing a triumph, a more confident Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flashed another victory sign and thumbs up as he strode confidently into the Lok Sabha this morning to attend the proceedings.
The UPA however was not without any anxious moments when Samajwadi party leader Amar Singh alleged that six party MPs were being forcibly kept by BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Mayawati in the UP bhavan here ahead of the trust vote.
The Samajwadi has a strength of 38 MPs that will largely help the government to sail through.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
 Latest media reports suggest Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has the required support to win the tru...){kind=link}
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