The Hindu : Front Page : LDF gives notice for no-trust motion

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Tuesday, Jul 12, 2005

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LDF gives notice for no-trust motion

Special Correspondent

Move in the context of `political tensions'; Speaker to take it up after three days

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Left Democratic Front on Monday fired the first of its political salvos by giving notice for a no-confidence motion against the UDF Government, led by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

The one-line notice was given by CPI (M) deputy leader in the Assembly Kodiyeri Balakrishnan under rule 63 of the Rules of Procedures of the House. The 12th session of the 11th Kerala Assembly will thus witness the first no-confidence motion against the UDF Government. The notice comes in the context of the overhanging political tensions in the run-up to local bodies and Assembly elections.

The Speaker will take up the notice after three days. According to the procedure, he will inform the House about the receipt of the notice and seek its leave to grant permission to move the motion. The leave will be granted if it has the support of 20 MLAs. The Assembly will take up the motion for discussion within 10 days. According to the rules, a one-line notice for a no-confidence motion will be sufficient. The LDF with 41 members, along with the Kerala Congress (B) and (Jacob)'s four MLAs will not find it a problem to get the leave of the House for the motion.

UDF has upper hand

In terms of numbers, the UDF has an upper hand with 85 MLAs, but the notice for the no-confidence and the subsequent debate on the motion would give an opportunity to the LDF to frame issues prior to the local bodies elections expected in the next few months. The LDF might not get a better opportunity to do this than at present, especially in the context of the rather strong agitation by Left student and youth organisations against the fee structure in self-financing colleges and the strong police action against the agitators.

The discussions would provide an opportunity to the LDF to raise a horde of other issues, including corruption charges.

The discussion will also focus on the internal problems in the Congress and the UDF, with the presence of two new friends in the Opposition benches, the Kerala Congress (B) and the Kerala Congress (Jacob), providing additional steam.

The UDF is yet to react officially to the no-confidence motion, but according to senior Congress leaders, the notice has been issued in order to divert public attention from the mounting internal power tussle in the CPI (M).

The UDF leaders also feel that the LDF constituents are inadvertently being drawn into the tussle.

The ruling front is likely to retaliate by trying to put the CPI (M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan in the docks for the alleged irregularities in awarding the contract to the Canadian SNC Lavalin for the renovation of the Pallivasal-Shengulam-Panniyar hydroelectric project.

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