Parliament to take up no-confidence motion against Modi government tomorrow: 10 points

The Narendra Modi government faces the first no-confidence motion moved against it in four years since it came to power.

On the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament on Wednesday, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan admitted notices for the motion moved by the TDP and opposition parties against the government on issues like grant of special status to Andhra Pradesh, mob lynchings, atrocities against women and Dalits and dilution of a law meant for Scheduled Castes.

Here are ten points about the upcoming no-confidence motion.

1) The TDP’s Kesineni Srinivas will move the no-confidence motion on Friday morning in the Lok Sabha

2) The National Democratic Alliance has 312 members in the 533-member Lok Sabha, well above the halfway mark of the 266 needed for it to sail through the challenge posed by the no-confidence motion.

3) TDP MP J C Diwakar Reddy, who did not attend Parliament on Wednesday said he would continue to stay away when the no-trust motion is taken up for discussion.

4) Not all opposition parties are supporting the no-trust motion. The AIADMK has hinted that it might not back the motion. Telangana Rashtra Samiti

5) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has issued a whip to its Lok Sabha MPs to vote in favour of the motion against the Modi government.

6) The Shiv Sena remained undecided on Thursday about its plan for Friday’s no-confidence after a series of flip-flops.

7) The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the fifth largest party in the Lok Sabha with 18 MPs has left the decision on the party’s stand on the no-confidence motion to its president Naveen Patnaik.

8) BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha who has often been critical of his party says he will for the government.

9) The BJP has been allotted three hours and 33 minutes for Fridays debate. The Congress will have 38 minutes, AIADMK 29 minutes, TMC 27 minutes, BJD 15 minutes, Shiv Sena 14 minutes, TDP 13 minutes while TRS will get nine minutes.

10) Union minister Ananth Kumar said Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s “maths is weak” and that the Opposition’s calculation on the no-confidence motion government was “wrong”.