New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party will use the no-trust motion on Friday as an opportunity to showcase the achievements of the Narendra Modi government and attempt to display a numerical strength beyond NDA’s tally in the 2014 general elections.
Telegu Desam Party is the one major BJP ally to have left the NDA in the last four years. Interestingly, the no-confidence motion against the Modi government on Friday will be moved by the TDP, whose leader Chandrababu Naidu parted ways with the BJP on the issue of granting special status to Andhra Pradesh.
In Parliament on Thursday, BJP president Amit Shah met party floor managers in Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar’s room. Shiv Sena, which has had a running battle with the BJP - both in Maharashtra and at the Centre - had refused to divulge its voting preference till Thursday morning.
The oldest BJP ally has a minister in the union council. And it was highly unlikely that Sena would vote with the opposition and break ranks when government had clear numbers on the floor of the house. Shah had a telephonic conversation with Uddhav Thackrey and Sena announced its support to the government.
This being the first big parliamentary debate ahead of the elections, MPs from both treasury benches and the opposition were seen attempting to get their names in the speakers list. Ananth Kumar was being inundated with requests from party legislatures seeking a chance to represent the party during the debate.
With 272 MPs, BJP will get almost half of the total time allocated for discussion. AIADMK with 37 MPs also joined in the chorus. Tamil Nadu CM E Palaniswamy said his party will not vote for the motion since the issue pertains to the demands made by a particular state that is Andhra Pradesh in this case. It would be interesting to see if the party abstains or votes with the government.
Naveen Patnaik has thus far maintained equidistance from the Congress and the BJP. BJD even declined the opposition offer of Rajya Sabha deputy Chairman’s post. On Fridayt too, the party will continue with its Ekla Chalo policy and abstain from voting.
The other non-aligned regional satrap being closely watched during the trust motion would be K Chandrashekhar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samiti. KCR has for long talked about an alternative front at the Centre. But Congress remains its main adversary in the state. Decimated in Andhra, Congress in Andhra is assiduously trying to resurrect its Reddy-Muslim-Dalit combination to challenge TRS in the next assembly polls.
KCR has thus far shown no inclination to join the Congress-led opposition front. Will he maintain this neutrality in the floor test on Friday?
BJP has just recently withdrawn from the PDP led coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir. Mehbooba Mufti’s party has just one member in the LoK Sabha, but PDP’s vote preference in trust vote will have a larger political resonance in the valley and outside.
The ruling party is leaving no stone un-turned to ramp up NDA strength in the Lok Sabha. Numbers are assured. BJP will be fighting a perception battle.
Every vote will thus be made to count. So Valsad MP K C Patil recuperating in Gangaram Hospital in Delhi may come and vote as per the party whip. So would Nepal Singh, from Rampur, who has not been keeping the best of health.
It’s not just the victory, but the margin of victory that the BJP will seek to showcase in the trust vote.
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