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Congress floor managers claim double victory

New Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI: The Congress floor managers claimed a double victory of sorts in the trust vote in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday – not only had they kept their own flock together, but it was clear from the votes cast that the principal opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, was not able to convince even its own MPs to vote against the Manmohan Singh government.

The Congress loss was confined to Haryana MP Kuldip Bishnoi, rebel and son of the former Chief Minister, Bhajan Lal.

Surprisingly, BJP MPs from Karnataka appeared to be the most dissatisfied with their party. There were three who voted for the motion or abstained in direct violation of the whip issued by the party. These were H.T. Sangliana, Manorama Madhavraj and Manjunath Kunnur. Another Karnataka member, who switched sides, was Shivanna from Janata Dal (Secular).

The cross-voting by two more BJP MPs – Somabhai Patel from Gujarat and Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh from Uttar Pradesh – came as no surprise because they had publicly announced their intention beforehand. Babubhai Katara, presently facing charges of human trafficking, was one of the MPs who abstained. The names of some more BJP MPs, as among those who defied the party whip, were doing the rounds.. But while party leaders remained tight-lipped, officials said details of the voting would be known only on Wednesday.

The Telugu Desam Party also failed to keep its small flock of five MPs together, although chief N. Chandrababu Naidu was present in Parliament House almost throughout the day. Two MPs — Dr. M. Jagannathan and Adikesavulu Naidu — defied the whip.

The Biju Janata Dal and the Akali Dal also had their share of casualties – BJD MP Harihar Swain and Sukhdev Singh Libra of SAD did not follow their party directive to vote against the motion.

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