The Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) grouping has decided to move a no-confidence motion against the government in Lok Sabha, Trinamool Congress (TMC) functionaries claimed on Tuesday.
The claim was made after the first three days of the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament were washed out as INDIA grouping lawmakers stuck to their demand for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on the ethnic violence in Manipur.
The Congress-led Opposition last brought a no-confidence motion against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2003. The motion was discussed and voted up but Vajpayee survived. In 2018, Telugu Desam Party sought to bring a similar motion against the government but there was no discussion or voting.
A no-confidence motion can only be brought against the government in the Lok Sabha. If a government is defeated in the voting, which is mandatory for deciding the motion, the Prime Minister must resign.
To be sure, the Narendra Modi government faces no threat from any such motion as it has a comfortable majority in the Lower House of Parliament.
Opposition leaders insisted that the objective of bringing the motion was to try to push the Prime Minister to speak on the Manipur issue in the House.
“INDIA decided this to have PM [Prime Minister] to speak in Lok Sabha on Manipur,” said a Congress leader after a meeting of the INDIA allies on Tuesday morning at the party president Mallikarjun Kharge’s office.
The Opposition will require the support of at least 50 lawmakers of the Lower House for giving the notice of no confidence to the Speaker. Otherwise, the notice will be rejected as per the Lok Sabha rules.
There is no guarantee that the PM will speak on a specific issue when he has to reply to a no-confidence debate.
A second Congress leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the proposal to move a no confidence motion against government was discussed at the INDIA grouping meeting on Tuesday as the “last weapon” to make PM speak.
Source- Hindustan Times.
