By IANS,
New Delhi : Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has an additional responsibility – to round up jailed MPs — in order to ensure the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) wins the crucial floor test on July 22.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has two members — Mohammed Shahabuddin (Siwan) and Rajesh Ranjan popularly known as Pappu Yadav (Madhepura) – who have been convicted for serious criminal offence, are lodged in jail.
In the presidential election that took place last July, Pappu Yadav was brought to Parliament House to vote after taking a special permission from the court.
With each vote being crucial, the RJD has to bring in these two ‘jailbirds’ too.
This time also, the party is not taking any chances.
Lalu Prasad has given instructions that nobody should take a chance for the trust vote, crucial for his own continuance. Besides, his party is in no mood to face the election, which will be a natural outcome of the UPA’s failure to win the majority in the July 22 voting.
The RJD has 24 MPs in the Lok Sabha.
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Tamil Nadu parties take extra-care!
Leaders of ruling United Progressive Alliance constituents from Tamil Nadu are leaving no stone unturned to ensure the Congress Party wins the floor test.
The three political parties – DMK, PMK and MDMK – are busy these days tutoring their MPs about how to cast their crucial vote in favour of the Congress-led government. The three parties have a total of 33 votes.
The MPs, including seven new members, are being given training on how to press the button to vote in favour of the government.
These classes have become important, as goof-ups of the past have forced the parties to be extra careful.
The MPs from Tamil Nadu had failed to vote at crucial moments in the past. One was Sedappatti Muthiah (AIADMK), who had “forgotten” to cast his vote in support of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999, while the other is S.S. Rajendran (DMK). He couldn’t vote because he got a call of the nature. This happened during a similar instance in mid-eighties.
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Maran’s closeness with Congress
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi and his party may be at loggerheads with his nephew Dayanidhi Maran. However, the party is not at all worried about his vote in the July 22 trust vote.
DMK leaders say the former IT minister is unlikely to defy the party whip which might cost him his Lok Sabha membership. Besides, his proximity with the Congress also ensures his valuable vote for the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government.
The doubts over his vote were raised after the Sun TV, owned by Maran brothers, began “exposing” the alleged “horse-trading” of the UPA government.