The Congress party on Tuesday issued a three-line whip to its members in Lok Sabha instructing them to be present at the Parliament amid the Opposition INDIA grouping's plan to move a no-confidence motion against the government in the lower House. The alliance partners are meeting at 10am on Wednesday to finalise their plans on moving the motion against the Narendra Modi-led government and the Congress MPs have been asked to come to the office of the Congress Parliamentary Party after the opposition meeting to discuss “some important issues.”
Asked whether the opposition will move a 'no confidence motion' against the government on the Manipur issue, Congress senior spokesperson Manish Tewari said at a party briefing that in the Parliamentary system and tradition, all options are open.
"In a Parliamentary democracy, all instrumentalities which are available in the rules and procedures of the Lok Sabha remain open to the opposition," he told reporters.
“As we have pointed out in the last three or four days, the reasons why we are insistent that the prime minister must address both houses of Parliament on the question of Manipur is because of the sensitivity (of the situation in the border state) and the depravity that Manipur has unfortunately witnessed in the past 78 to 80 days.”
Here's all you need to know about Opposition's no-confidence motion plan
- While the proposed no-confidence motion is bound to fail given the numbers heavily stacked in favour of the ruling NDA, opposition parties, according to a PTI report, argue that they will win the battle of perception by cornering the government on the Manipur issue during the debate.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- It is also up to the Speaker when to take up that notice in the House.
- However, even if the motion is moved in Lok Sabha with the required support of at least 50 lawmakers of the Lower House, there is no guarantee that the PM will speak on a specific issue when he has to reply to a no-confidence debate.
- Both Houses of Parliament faced disruptions for the fourth consecutive day of the Monsoon session as the opposition parties stuck to their demand for a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the ethnic clashes in Manipur followed by a discussion.
- The government has been insisting that only the Union home minister will reply to a debate on the Manipur situation.
- Union home minister Amit Shah said that the government is ready to give a statement and discuss the matter on the floor of the House but the opposition parties are unrelenting in their demand for a statement from the prime minister.
- In separate letters to Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the home minister urged them to lend their support in ensuring the continued functioning of Parliament.