The debate on the no-trust motion, moved by the Congress and supported by the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance or the INDIA bloc, against the Narendra Modi government in the Lok Sabha, will begin on August 8, and the Prime Minister is expected to reply on August 10.
The decision was taken at the Lok Sabha’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting on Tuesday amid a walkout by senior leaders of the INDIA bloc to protest against the government prioritising its legislative agenda over the no-trust motion.
Also read: No-confidence motion | Ayes or nays? Unaligned parties weigh choice
The no-confidence motion was moved by the Congress’ deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, on July 26, in an attempt to force the PM to speak on the issue of strife-torn Manipur.
As protests over Manipur continued, disrupting the the Question Hour, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had convened a meeting of the BAC at noon.
“The Parliamentary Affairs Minister was initially mentioning Bills that the government is hoping to take up, and informed about the no-confidence vote when we were walking out of the BAC,” a senior Congress leader told The Hindu.
The INDIA bloc comprising the Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Left parties, as well as the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), demanded that the House take up the motion immediately, and protested the government pushing through its legislative agenda this week.
The government argued that the motion should be taken up for discussion within 10 working days of being admitted, and there were no rules or precedence that make it mandatory for the House to take up the no-confidence motion immediately.
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The Congress party’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and K. Suresh, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) T.R. Baalu, the Trinamool Congress’ Sudeep Bandopadhaya, and the Janata Dal-United’s (JD-U) Rajeev Ranjan were among those who walked out.
The source cited above said that at the BAC meeting, Mr. Chowdhury, accompanied by Chief Whip Mr. Suresh, pointed out that it had been four days since his party colleague had moved a no-confidence motion but there was no indication from the government or the Speaker’s office about the date of the debate.
Mr. Chowdhury then pointed out past instances when a no-confidence motion brought against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and the Manmohan Singh government were taken up immediately. He reiterated his party’s stand that pushing through the legislative agenda was “improper” and cited the rule book (by M.N. Kaul and S.L. Shakhder) to put forward their point.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, and his colleague Arjun Ram Meghwal, argued that the government had the numbers and the no-trust motion was not a “serious” threat to its survival.
“During the 16th Lok Sabha, when the TDP (Telugu Desam Party) moved a no-confidence motion, it was listed the next day. Therefore, the delay is not proper. In protest, the INDIA alliance partners walked out of the Speaker’s Business Advisory Committee of the Lok Sabha,” Congress Whip Manickam Tagore said.
