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How TDP emerged as key player in no-confidence motion against Modi govt
This will be the first no-confidence vote in Parliament since 2003, when the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government comfortably crushed a no-trust motion initiated by the Congress.
A lesson learnt from the budget session helped Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) outsmart others in the race to be the first to submit the notice of no confidence against the BJP government.
According to the rules of the Lower House, any notice served after 10am on any day can be considered for the next day. Three TDP MPs — Srinivas Kesineni, Thota Narsimham and K Narayana Rao — first sent their notices electronically, and then sent letters to the Lok Sabha secretariat before noon on Wednesday.
“We filed our notice through the Lok Sabha website and then gave the letters. Srinivas Kesineni gave it first, followed by me and Narayana Rao,” Narsimham said on Thursday.
Officials also claimed that MPs of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) submitted the notice of no confidence before others during the budget session. According to House rules, notices are processed on a first-come-first-served basis and the first notice of no confidence is admitted over others.
In the same way, Srinivas Kesineni’s notice was accepted by Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan this time, and a debate was slated on Friday. “YRSCP and TDP both had filed notices during the budget session. But this time, we wanted to be the first,” said Narsimham.
Video: No-confidence motion | How the numbers stack up for BJP, Opposition
A party functionary added that Congress would have had the chance to have its no-confidence motion accepted only if the TDP’s notices failed due to lack of numbers. Any notice for no confidence has to be supported by at least 50 MPs on the floor of the House. “At this time, there was no question of not supporting the TDP’s notice. We wanted to showcase Opposition unity,” said a senior Congress leader on the condition of anonymity.
A TDP delegation met Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday and sought the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) support for the no-confidence motion against the NDA government in both the houses. This delegation included party leaders YS Chowdary, TG Venkatesh, K Narayana and Narsimha Rao.
Accordingly, the Kejriwal-led party issued a whip asking its Lok Sabha MPs to vote in favour of the motion. The directive was issued by AAP chief whip Bhagwant Mann, a party leader said.
