By IANS,
Kozhikode : Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) member of parliament from Kerala M.P. Veerendra Kumar said he and the two of hsi fellow party MPs would vote against the confidence motion of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government July 22.
Apart from Kumar, the JD-S has two other representatives in the Lok Sabha – former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda and M. Shivanna.
“Deve Gowda called me over the phone today (Friday). He told me that he and Shivanna would vote against the confidence motion. I welcome their decision,” Kumar told reporters here Friday.
The Kerala unit of JD-S led by Kumar had earlier severed links with Gowda after he had allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form a government in Karnataka.
“We have three MPs. I have differences with the other two in the party. But on the issue of confidence motion, all those who contested the election under the symbol of JD-S will vote against the motion,” he said.
“Technically, I am the leader of the parliamentary party. Gowda has asked me to talk in parliament during the debate over the motion.”
After parting ways with Gowda, Kumar had announced that the state unit of the JD-S would merge with the Samajwadi Party led By Mulayam Singh.
Kumar said he was reconsidering this decision now as the Samajwadi Party has decided to support the Congress-led UPA government.