Opposition tables no-trust motion as LS opens for Monsoon session
18 Jul 2018
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Parliament opened today for its Monsoon Session with the opposition firing its first salvo against the Narendra Modi government by tabling a no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, the Lower House.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan admitted the motion and said she would notify the date for a discussion on the no-confidence motion in “two-three days”. The Monsoon session will have 18 sittings between today and 10 August.
While all opposition members who had moved no-confidence motions are named as sponsors of the motion, Speaker Mahajan said Telugu Desam Party’s Kesineni Srinivas would move the motion as his name had come up in the lottery.
Srinivas, a member of the Telugu Desam Party ( TDP), which had quit the ruling NDA coalition in March protesting against the government not giving a special package to Andhra Pradesh, moved the motion during Zero Hour.
Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar said the government was ready to face the no-confidence motion and win it as it enjoyed a two-third majority in the house.
TDP members had moved a no-confidence motion during the Budget session of Parliament as well. It was then rejected by the speaker on the grounds that the motion was not in order.
Former Lok Sabha general secretary PDT Achary had then criticised the speaker’s decision. “It can be seen from the rules that the Speaker has not been given the power to admit or disallow this motion, she / he has to merely form an opinion that the motion is in order. The leave to move the motion is granted by the House and not by the Speaker. This is the specialty of the no-confidence motion. Every other business needs to be admitted by the Speaker before it is brought before the House,” he wrote in The Wire.
Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge also on Tuesday said that a number of opposition parties have agreed to collectively give a notice for a no-confidence motion against the Modi government.
“Around 12 opposition parties held a meeting yesterday where they agreed for collectively bringing a vote of no-confidence against the government in the Monsoon Session,” he said at a press conference. Kharge said opposition parties have lined up a number of demands including the grant of special status to Andhra Pradesh, apart from raising issues such as lynchings, atrocities against women and Dalits and dilution of a law meant for SCs.
Modi had said before the start of the session that his government was ready for debate on any issue raised by political parties. “Any party wants to raise any issue, this government is ready for a discussion,” he told reporters just before the beginning of the session.
The government wants to replace six ordinances with bills during the Monsoon session of Parliament even as it gears up to face a no-trust motion moved by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
The government also faces the crucial challenge of election of deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha as Congressman PJ Kurien’s tenure has ended last month. BJP doesn’t enjoy a majority in the Rajya Sabha.
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