Govt upbeat, sure of clear win; Oppn may have fallen into trap

New Delhi: The Opposition parties appear to have fallen into a political trap by moving a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government, with certain defeat in sight. Almost all NDA allies, including the Shiv Sena, which has emerged as a major critic of the BJP, have pledged to vote against the motion.

It was learnt that during his reply Prime Minister Narendra Modi will use the opportunity to kickstart the BJP’s 2019 election campaign. Besides the Shiv Sena, dissident BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha also said that he would vote against the motion. The Shiv Sena decided to vote for the government after BJP president Amit Shah spoke to Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray.

Sources said that in order to avoid the embarrassment of being defeated on the House floor, the Congress was holding parleys with “like-minded Opposition outfits” to stage a walkout before the vote.

The BJP has not merely expressed confidence about defeating the motion, but also took a dig at UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s claim that the Opposition “had the numbers” to win the no-trust vote. “Sonia Gandhi’s maths is weak” parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar quipped.

While the Congress decided to take up the challenge by fielding party president Rahul Gandhi, chief whip Jyotiradiya Scindia and senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge in the debate, with just 38 minutes allotted to it the party is unlikely to make a credible impact. Speaking to this newspaper, a senior Congress leader indicated that if the motion ends up being a “battle of rhetoric between Modi and Rahul, one knows who is the better orator”.

Staying away from the so-called Opposition move to put the government on the mat, both the AIADMK and the BJD are likely to abstain from voting. While the AIADMK has made it clear it would participate in the discussion and speak against the motion, the BJD indicated it was difficult to back the motion initiated by the TDP since it has “regional issues with Andhra Pradesh over the Polavaram project”. Speculation was rife that the TRS could either abstain or vote against the motion.

Trying to emerge as the leader of the proposed Federal Front, Trinamul Congress president and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has directed all her party MPs to be in New Delhi for the no-trust move. She has issued a three-line whip. Despite a key political event “Shahid Divas” being planned by Ms Banerjee in Kolkata on May 21, she decided to rush her legislators to New Delhi after a telephonic chat with TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu.

As for the debate, the ruling BJP, which has been allotted three and a half hours in the debate, will field Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur, Bhadohi MP Virendra Singh Mast and  Madhubani MP Hukum Dev Nayaran Yadav, among others. The saffron show-stopper will, of course, be Prime Minister Modi himself.

Since the motion accepted by the Speaker is the one moved by the Telugu Desam, the debate will be initiated its members. The party’s Guntur MP Jaydev Galla would most probably open the debate.

While the TDP motion is on the demand for special category status for Andhra Pradesh, the Opposition will be raising a host of issues — from lynchings, the state of the economy, joblessness and farm distress. The Congress has appealed to the TDP to include all these issues while moving the motion.