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Government will lose vote: BJP

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party said here on Friday that the government was shaky and would lose the trust vote in the Lok Sabha.

The party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, V.K. Malhotra, had this to say: “It is true that the Shiromani Akali Dal is ambivalent on the nuclear deal. But now the Dal has told us it will be issuing a whip to its MPs.” (The SAD later in the day issued a whip asking its MPs to vote against the government.)

“We have requested the Lok Sabha Secretariat to make special arrangements for the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who can be brought into the lobby outside the Lok Sabha where he can vote from.” This, Mr. Malhotra added, had been done in the past for leaders of different parties.

Lok Sabha Secretary-General P.D.T. Achary, said “although there are no rules on this, there were many precedents and it would be up to the Speaker to give the necessary permission.”

Three MPs ill

Mr. Malhotra said the BJP was making every effort to gather all its MPs to ensure their presence so that they can vote out the government. However, he admitted that three of its MPs were seriously ill in different hospitals. “Dharmendra (representing Bikaner in Rajasthan) is in the United States where he has recently had a knee replacement surgery. Mahesh Chandra Kanodia (from Patan in Gujarat) recently had bypass surgery and Harish Chandra Chauhan (sitting MP from Malegoan in Maharashtra) has had an accident and is seriously ill,” Mr. Malhotra said. Efforts were being made to make them vote on July 22.

Talking about the pressure faced by the Akali Dal, he said it was true “there is a chorus in Punjab that the Akalis must not vote out a Sikh Prime Minister. Akhand paths [24-hour recitation of religious hymns] have been organised in different parts of the State.” This, Mr. Malhotra said, “was an attempt to communalise the Prime Minister’s chair and office,” and he condemned it.

On Speaker

On the controversy surrounding Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, the BJP said: “We are not objecting to Mr. Chatterjee presiding over the proceedings in the House [on July 21 and 22].”

The BJP alleged that the United Progressive Alliance was “luring” MPs to shore up its numbers, while it also claimed that the numbers of MPs against the government were swelling.

On Friday, the party had produced in its office an independent MP from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh. Asked about this, Mr. Malhotra said: “They [the MPs] are coming to us after listening to their conscience, they are going there for money.”

A host of issues

The BJP would focus on the all-round failure of the Manmohan Singh government in the debate on the trust motion.

“It is not going to be a vote on the nuclear deal alone. Inflation is now nearly 12 per cent and there are many other issues which the BJP as the principal Opposition has been highlighting,” Mr. Malhotra said.

Party leaders said: “The BJP has been impressing upon at least two allies — the Akali Dal and the Shiv Sena — who are inclined favourably towards the nuclear deal, that the Manmohan Singh government must be condemned for the totality of its failures.”

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