New Delhi: Trouble continues to brew for the Congress over the Telangana issue as even the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, which supports the UPA government from outside, has served notice for an adjournment motion against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
The move has certainly given a boost to Seemandhra MPs, including those of the ruling party, who have moved a no-confidence motion against the government for trying to divide Andhra Pradesh. They also claimed they were working on numbers to bring down the government.
SP leader Shailendra Kumar, announcing its move over the bifurcation process, said: "We have given a notice for an adjournment motion in Parliament. We have always been against the division of any state.” The SP, with 22 Lok Sabha MPs, gives outside support to the UPA government.
While YSR Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy has already teamed up with Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee to oppose the bifurcation of Andhra, the West Bengal CM said on Tuesday there was "no need" to bring a "no-confidence" as the people of the country had already expressed their views in the just-concluded Assembly elections. She accompanied Reddy while meeting BJP leaders to seek their support against the Centre's move to split Andhra Pradesh.
Asked if her party will support a no-trust motion, Ms Banerjee said: "The public has already expressed their no-confidence in the current government... Where is the need to bring a no-confidence motion?”
Mamata Banerjee met BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and L.K. Advani along with Reddy. The Seemandhra MPs, who have moved the motion, also met her and sought her support. But it was learnt the TMC chief told them she would not be able to support the motion in Parliament though she supported their cause.
She is understood to have said that the SP and BSP would bail out the government if there was a no-confidence motion. In a bid to stall the splitting of the state, Seemandhra MPs belonging to the Congress, TDP and YSR Congress gave separate notices for a no-confidence motion.
But these notices could not be taken up in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday as pandemonium prevailed in the House. Its functioning was washed out for the second successive working day over a host of issues, including Telangana, the JPC 2G report and the death of 40 children in relief camps in Muzaffarnagar.
Speaker Meira Kumar said she had got the no-confidence notices, but insisted that the House should be in order for these to be considered. While most of the agitated MPs retreated to their seats, BSP MPs continued to shout slogans in the Well, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House for the day.
The Seemandhra MPs, including YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, vociferously protested the creation of Telangana and demanded a united Andhra.
Along with them, BJD members alleged discrimination towards cyclone-hit Orissa by the Centre, while DMK members were in the Well to oppose the training of Sri Lankan Navy personnel in the country.
Left members were also in the Well with placards demanding an inquiry into the role of West Bengal ministers in the Saradha chit fund scam in the state.
TMC members, whose party is in power in the state, countered this charge by walking into the well of the house, raising slogans.
Next: Didi says no, BJD to back no-trust
Didi says no, BJD to back no-trust
Ch. V.M. Krishna Rao | DC
Hyderabad: The notice for the no-confidence motion given by Congress Seemandhra MPs could not be taken up on Tuesday due to the day-long disruption of the Lok Sabha over a variety of issues. It is now expected to come up on Wednesday, along with those of the TD and YSRC.
Seemandhra MPs used the day to gather the minimum support — 50 MPs — that they need to get the NCM notice accepted by the Lok Sabha. They met with mixed success. By themselves, the Seemandhra MPs number 13, and they need another 37 MPs to reach the magic figure.
Trinamul chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee refused to support the no-confidence motion.
Ms Banerjee, whose party has 19 members in the Lok Sabha, was approached by the six Congress MPs who gave the notice for the NCM. She apparently told them that she was not interested in the no-confidence motion though she does support a united AP.
“The public has already expressed their no-confidence in the current government... Where is the need to bring a no-confidence motion,” she is reported to have said. Mamata Banerjee also said that she expected the SP and the BSP to bail out the Centre.
YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy spoke to both Ms Banerjee and Naveen Patnaik of the BJD to raise support. Jay Panda, parliamentary party leader of the 14-MP BJD, tweeted late on Tuesday evening that his party would support the Seemandhra MPs.
