By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : The battle for numbers that will decide the fate of the UPA government in the trust vote Tuesday entered the last lap with its hopes hinging on abstentions and last minute defections from rival camps.
Hours before a cliff hanger trust vote, there was good tidings for the Congress-led UPA when the two-member national Conference announced it will vote for the ruling coalition while a lone Mizo National Front (MNF) MP Vanlalzawma said he will abstain.
Ending the suspense on which way the NC will go, the party chief Omar Abdullah said Tuesday morning his party will vote in favour of the UPA government.
As the groupings for and against the government tried to rustle up the numbers, the fencesitters held centre stage amid reports eight to ten NDA MPs may either abstain or violate party whips that will help the ruling coalition pull through.
The target of 271 for getting the majority will come down in the event of abstentions setting the stage for a photo finish in which the Manmohan Singh government may just scrape through.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee also announced that six MPs has sought leave of absence which has been granted that will bring down the target to sail through. The party affiliations were however not disclosed.
Possibly sniffing a triumph, a more confident Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flashed another victory sign and thumbs up as he strode confidently into the Lok Sabha Tuesday morning to attend the proceedings.
The UPA however was not without any anxious moments when Samajwadi party leader Amar Singh alleged that six party MPs were being forcibly kept by BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Mayawati in the UP bhavan here ahead of the trust vote.
The Samajwadi has a strength of 38 MPs that will largely help the government to sail through.
BSP members created a ruckus during Rahul Gandhi’s speech in the Lok Sabha Tuesday over the alleged “threats of imprisonment” to chief Mayawati in the CBI case against her if the party failed to back the government in the trust vote.
Brandishing copies of a document, puportedly the CBI affidavit in the disproportionate assets case against Mayawati, BSP MPs, led by Brajesh Pathak, made certain allegations against the government which were inaudible in the din.
Pathak as also the BSP Lok Sabha leader Rajesh Verma were vociferous in their protest and were in no mood to heed the pleas by several Union Ministers, including Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee, who went to pacify them.
Manmohan Singh and Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi were present in the full House as it was listening to the MP from Amethi about the problems of the downtrodden and the way they are trying to overcome them.
He wanted to emphasise how energy security could help in bringing light to their lives when the commotion broke out with an angry Pathak suddenly raising the issue.
BSP members later said that Pathak while coming to Parliament earlier in the day was confronted by a person who handed him over the document consisting of a photocopy of the CBI affidavit in the Supreme Court.
BSP MP Illyas Azmi claimed that Pathak was told that if his party failed to support the Government then Mayawati could find herself behind bars for a long time.
In the melee, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee adjourned the House for lunch asking Gandhi to continue after the break.
The BJP meanwhile said it will raise in Parliament the issue of their MPs being “lured” by the UPA in a “desperate attempt” to save the government in the confidence vote in Lok Sabha.
“We will register a complaint with Speaker against the attempt by the UPA to lure our parliamentarians in their desperate attempt to save the government. We have demanded that the Speaker should intervene and stop this mockery of the parliamentary system,” a senior party leader said here.
Two of the saffron party’s MPs– one each from Gujrat and Uttar Pradesh– have reportedly openly defied the party whip and have announced that they would vote for the government.
The complaint from the opposition bench comes in the wake of reports that an MP from Karnataka is also now set to desert the party and vote for the UPA.
According to party sources, BJP will raise the issue of some of its members deciding to vote with the UPA in the confidence motion alleging that the government was indulging in horse-trading and severe malpractices to lure their MPs.