Sonia Gandhi's math is weak: Minister Anant Kumar's jibe at no-trust vote
New Delhi: The ruling BJP, on Thursday, smirked at UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi comments, saying that her math is weak. The latest jibe comes a day after the Congress leader, responding to questions on the no-confidence motion, said: "Who says we don't have the numbers?"
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has enough numbers to get the majority in the no-confidence motion that will be taken up in the Lok Sabha on Friday. Therefore, the comments made by Sonia Gandhi have raised suspicion amongst many.
“Sonia ji's math is weak. They had calculated similarly in 1996. We know what happened then. Their calculation is wrong yet again. The Modi govt has majority both inside and outside Parliament. NDA will vote against no-confidence motion. You will see support for us from all directions,” Union Minister Ananth Kumar said.
The minister was presumably referring to Sonia Gandhi's statement in 1999 - "We have 272 and more are coming"- which turned out to be a miscalculation as her party could not form government after the fall of the BJP-led Atal Bihari Vajpayee government by one vote.
The BJP is confident that it has more than adequate lawmakers on its side - including the Shiv Sena, the most vocal critic of the BJP in recent days.
The NDA expects to get be supported by at least 314 MPs in the lower house, which has an effective strength of 535 members. The list, however, does not include Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who is also a BJP MP. The majority mark is 268.