By IANS,
Kolkata : The CPI-M Tuesday welcomed Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee’s proposal for engaging with the Left on tabling a no-confidence motion against the UPA government in the Lok Sabha, but accused her of having decided her stand at the “behest of the Congress”.
“Some people may say she has taken the decision on moving the no-confidence motion at the behest of the Congress. As per rules, confidence motion cannot be tabled more than once within a gap of six months. So if it is defeated this time, the government will be safe for six months,” state Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M) secretary Biman Bose told mediapersons here.
“Even parties which support the government from outside don’t want the government to collapse. So in the current situation, these parties will go all out to save the government,” Bose said.
“And once the motion is defeated, the government will be emboldened to pursue obnoxious anti-people policies as they will then claim they have got the mandate from parliament,” he said.
However, Bose said the Trinamool – which has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha – was far short of the magic figure of 50 needed to table such a motion. “So they are not even in a position to move the motion,” he said.
Hours after Banerjee declared her party would support a no-confidence motion if the CPI-M-led Left parties move it in the Lok Sabha and expressed her willingness to even go to Alimuddin Street (CPI-M headquarters) and talk to him on the issue, Bose welcomed her proposal for talks.
“If somebody wants to discuss with us, he or she is welcome. But as for tabling no-confidence motion, even together we leftists don’t have the number to moot such a motion. So unlike some others (read Trinamool) who also don’t have the numbers we are not making much hue and cry on it,” he said.
Bose said the leftists have submitted a notice for discussions under rule 184 (entailing voting) in the Lok Sabha against the introduction of foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail as that was the most pragmatic move in the current political situation.
“If the government loses the vote, then they can’t go ahead with their decision to introduce FDI. Moreover, it will be a big face loss for the government. In politics, one has to adopt a strategy as per the situation,” Bose said.