The Hindu : Front Page : Congress pins hopes on abstentions

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Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008
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Congress pins hopes on abstentions

Gargi Parsai

It expects “12 to 15 abstentions” and defections from the NDA

NEW DELHI: Even as the Lok Sabha debated the confidence motion moved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Congress on Monday claimed that “the threshold level” of number of votes required to bail out the government would come down during the trial of strength on Tuesday.

The party expects “12 to 15 abstentions” and defections from the National Democratic Alliance which would help the government win the vote of confidence on the India-U.S. nuclear agreement. If anything, the speech of the Leader of the Opposition and Bharatiya Janata Party leader, L.K. Advani, in the Lok Sabha — in which he said that his party was interested in “defeating the government, not destabilising it” — brought smiles on the faces of Congressmen.

“Unless something unforeseen happens,” at the end of the day, the party calculated 265-plus votes in its kitty with the number of those “present and voting” to be around 530 (instead of the counting strength of 541).

Even while expressing confidence that the UPA government would win the trust vote, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi charged all parties who were opposed to the nuclear deal with showing “scant regard” for the national interest and energy security for India.

“An unholy and immoral alliance of the BJP, the Left, the Bahujan Samaj Party and a motley group of regional players has unleashed a programme of surreptitious wheeling-dealing, with the sole objective of destabilising a government acting in the national interest,” he said.

He alleged that “while the BJP has exhibited hypocrisy and opportunism, the Left has shown inflexibility and tunnel vision, and regional players like the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Janata Dal (Secular), the Rashtriya Lok Dal and others have exhibited nothing but personal avarice and ambition.”

He said the BJP “in all probability even without the NDA’s consent,” had decided to cede space to the BSP with “false promises” to make [BSP president] Mayawati the next Prime Minister. “History alone will judge such actors and parties, and will judge them poorly.”

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