PM Modi to reply to the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will mark his presence in the Lok Sabha on August 10 to reply to the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against the NDA government, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday. “The PM will be present in the House tomorrow to reply to the no-confidence motion,” the Union minister told the Lower House.

Just before the adjournment of the House, the Union Minister confirmed the same. The opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government on July 26 which was taken up by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. However, Modi's government won't lose the vote as his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies have a majority in the Lok Sabha.

Any Lok Sabha MP, who has the support of 50 colleagues, can, at any point of time, introduce a motion of no-confidence against the Council of Ministers. Thereafter, a discussion on the motion takes place. MPs who support the motion highlight the government’s shortcomings, and the Treasury Benches respond to the issues they raise.

Ultimately, voting takes place and if the motion is successful, the government is forced to vacate the office. Notably, the NDA has a commendable majority with a number of 331 MPs out of which the BJP has 303 MPs while the combined strength of the Opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A is 144. The numbers of unaligned parties’ MPs are 70 in the Lower House. This is the second time Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing a no-confidence motion.

The first such motion against the Modi government was introduced in 2018 over granting a special category status to Andhra Pradesh which was later defeated. However, the discussion over the motion has been held on August 8 and August 9. Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday initiated the debate on the motion which later turned into a heated argument between Opposition and the Centre.

Gogoi, while speaking in House said that the Opposition was compelled to move the motion to break the 'maun vrat' of the PM and further asked three questions to the PM. “Three questions to the PM--Why did he not go to Manipur yet? Rahul Gandhi went there, MPs from different parties, part of I.N.D.I.A went there; Union Home Minister went there and MoS Home also went, but being the PM of the country, why Modi didn't Modi go to the state? The second question is- why it took 80 days for Modi ji to speak on Manipur? When he spoke, he spoke only for 30 seconds. After that too, there is no sympathetic word from Modi ji, nor has he appealed for peace there.

Ministers are saying ‘We will speak on the issue’; they should do that, and no one has stopped them to speak, but ministers’ words do not hold as much significance as Modi ji’s does. If Mr Modi takes an initiative for peace, the step would be considered as a strong one which cannot be done by any minister,” Gogoi said.

He further questioned why the PM has not sacked Manipur CM yet. “My third question is why the PM has not sacked Manipur CM yet. When you had to do politics in Gujarat, you changed the CM and that too two times. When there were elections in Uttarakhand you changed the CM several times. When the elections were approaching in Tripura, you changed the CM there too. So, why are you blessing the Manipur CM who himself has confessed that there was an intelligence failure because of him,” Gogoi said on Tuesday.