Third front to move cut motion on Budget

Third front parties, with a combined strength of 88 members in the Lok Sabha, have decided to move a cut motion on the finance bill in protest against the UPA government’s decisions of hiking prices of petroleum products and fertilisers.

Third front parties, with a combined strength of 88 members in the Lok Sabha, have decided to move a cut motion on the finance bill in protest against the UPA government’s decisions of hiking prices of petroleum products and fertilisers.

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The bill will come up for voting during the resumed budget session of parliament beginning Thursday.

The third front partners do not have the required strength in the Parliament to bring down the government by defeating the finance bill, but hopes to get support from the BJP.

The BJP intends to bring its own cut motion on the same issue, but does not rule out support to a motion by the third front. “If several cut motions in the same issue are brought, it is possible that they may get clubbed. In such a situation, the BJP can support the motion”, party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.

The Congress said the party and its allies were “absolutely prepared” to face the cut motion and there was “no cause for concern or alarm”.

The front partners — including nine political parties apart from the four Left parties — have decided to unitedly stage a strike on April 27 to demand a rollback in the hike of fertilisers and petroleum products.

The decisions emerged from a meeting attended by leaders including Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD’s Lalu Prasad, Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury (CPM), Chandrababu Naidu (TDP) and HD Deve Gowda (JD- S).