No-Trust Motion At 11 Am; “India Watching Us Closely,” Says PM: 10 Facts

New Delhi:

The ruling BJP is making every muscle work to make the opposition regret its decision to seek today’s no-trust vote in the Lok Sabha. It has worked the phones to cajole upset allies, reached out to friendly parties to abstain if they can’t support and according to some reports, also touched base with some of its own lawmakers who were expected to skip the vote on account of poor health, or otherwise. The Telugu Desam Party, which was the first to seek the no-confidence motion, will initiate the debate and Rahul Gandhi will be the Congress’s lead speaker. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to the debate that is widely seen as a launch pad for his campaign for the 2019 general elections.

Here are the top 10 updates in this big story:

1. PM Modi tweeted this morning calling for a "constructive, comprehensive and disruption free" debate on what he called an important day in India’s parliamentary democracy. "We owe this to the people & the makers of our Constitution. India will be watching us closely," he wrote.
2. The BJP has the numbers to sail through the no-trust motion. But the ruling party’s effort is not to just survive but make a splash when votes are counted at the end of the marathon debate. The target is to get two-thirds majority, which could be within striking distance if parties such as Tamil Nadu ruling AIADMK’s 37 lawmakers and Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal’s 19 lawmakers abstain.
3. "It will be a battle," said BJP ally Akali Dal’s Naresh Gujral, likening the day-long debate to a joint election rally of all parties for the 2019 elections. He suggested that how various parties vote in the no-trust vote could be an indicator of the "the line-up at the time of elections also".
4. The Congress has already tweaked its pitch. A day after UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi made a cryptic remark, "Who says we don’t have numbers?" the Congress conceded that the no-trust vote wasn’t about the numbers at all. "We will use the occasion to expose the government and raise various issues concerning the people of the country and tell the truth to the people," Congress leader Anand Sharma said.
5. Left leader Sitaram Yechury said the no-trust motion were moved to make the government accountable.
6. The NDA has 312 members in the 533-member house. The majority mark, however, stands at 267 as 11 seats are vacant. The Congress and the other parties that support the no-trust motion have about 152 seats.
7. The BJP’s oldest ally Shiv Sena played hard to get, but is said to have agreed to vote against the opposition’s motion after BJP boss Amit Shah made the call to Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. Sena leaders say they will take the final call only at 10 am today but the BJP insists Sena will back the government.
8. BJD lawmaker Pinaki Misra told NDTV that the Odisha-based party had been equidistant to the Congress and BJP, a hint that it might abstain from the no-trust motion. A final decision would be taken by chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who will be tracking the debate from Bhubaneshwar, he said.
9. The no-confidence motion — an extension of Andhra Pradesh’s demand for special status that would involve extensive financial benefits for the state — was moved on Wednesday.
10. The BJP, which was accused of stalling the no-trust move last time, is seen as changing its approach. Sources said it was because the party felt that once the no-trust vote is debated and defeated, the opposition would not have any excuse to disrupt proceedings in parliament.
11. Source: NDTV