By IANS,
New Delhi : The timing of the trust vote could not have been worse, say political parties. With general elections scheduled anyway for May 2009, neither the ruling UPA nor the opposition are quite sure of how their MPs would behave.
“No MP is worried about party whips or disqualification as the 14th Lok Sabha is anyway going to end in a few months. MPs who are unsure of getting tickets from their parties and those who have lost their safe seats after delimitation can make deals with others,” said a minister involved in the task of garnering support for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government.
-*-
Selective amnesia?
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has slammed the Congress for “taking recourse to convicted criminals for sustaining the government” and questioned its “political morality”. It has named jailbirds like Pappu Yadav, Moahmmed Shahabuddin and Suraj Bhan.
However, the party forgot to mention three other MPs lodged in jail who are expected to vote against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the crucial floor test on Tuesday.
These are Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) Umakant Yadav and Samajwadi Party’s Afzal Ansari and its suspended MP Atiq Ahmed who are being aggressively courted by the BSP.
It seems to be a case of “selective amnesia” for the Left.
-*-
NDA worried about three votes
Even as it tries to woo its allies to vote against the UPA in the floor test, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has the additional worry of probably missing out on three votes.
There is a lot of speculation over whether former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would be able to vote because of his health. Besides, the votes of two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs – Harischandra Deoram Chavan (MP from Malegoan in Maharashtra) and Babibhai Katara (Dohad in Gujarat) – are also doubtful.
While Chavan met with an accident and is in hospital, Katara is in jail for his alleged involvement in a human trafficking case.
The BJP is hoping that Vajpayee will vote – outside the house but within parliament premises.