No-confidence motion back on table as Monsoon Session of Parliament begins today

The monsoon session of Parliament will start on a note of confrontation from day one on Wednesday as Opposition parties, including the Congress, have announced their intention to press no-confidence motions against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

NDA’s estranged ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) served notice of a no-confidence motion to the Lok Sabha secretariat on Tuesday to be taken up on Wednesday. The Congress is also in talks with other like-minded parties to support similar moves, the party’s Lok Sabha leader Mallikarjun Kharge said.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) member of Parliament Mohammed Salim confirmed that the party too will try to move a no-confidence motion. “We will not do it on the first day as we want to discuss some other issues,” he said.

Regional groups like the Telugu Desam Party and its archrival YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), the ruling and main opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh, pushed no confidence motions against the government during the budget session of Parliament, but they weren’t taken up in the session in which proceedings were hit by numerous disruptions. Both are demanding special category status for Andhra Pradesh, following its June 2014 bifurcation, which would entitle the state to special central grants and other incentives.

The Congress’s decision to join the fray makes it a bigger battle against the BJP-led government as other parties like the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Samajwadi Party and Aaam Aadmi Party are expected to support the party.

The second half of the Budget session was washed out as TDP and YRSCP moved notices of no-confidence almost on a daily basis, but they could not be taken up for debate. The Opposition accused the BJP of prompting the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam,Tamil Nadu’s ruling party, to persist with its own demands, leading to chaos and adjournments.

According to the rules, a notice of no-confidence motion can be moved only in the Lok Sabha with support from at least 50 MPs. The Speaker can allow debate if the House is in order; at the end, voting takes places. Parties have the right to serve fresh notices if the previous one is not taken up due to adjournments and disruptions.

In 2003, the Congress had moved a no-confidence motion against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, but it was defeated by a big margin.

Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjun Kharge announced that the party would raise issues such as women’s safety, perceived dilution of the scheduled castes/scheduled tribes act, Governor’s Rule in Jammu and Kashmir, and the unfulfilled demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh.

The Congress, which was wiped out in Andra Pradesh in the last Lok Sabha polls, hopes that its support for a special package h will help it regain ground in the state. Andhra Pradesh assembly elections are slated to be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls next year.