Though the planned no-trust motion by MPs of the Congress and other parties hailing from Seemandhra lacks numbers to come for debate and voting in the Lok Sabha, it continues to rattle the ruling party.
The move by the MPs in protest against the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh has come following the decision of the Union Cabinet to initiate the process for creation of a separate state of Telangana. There are several steps to follow before the issue reaches any stage.
However, the legal and administrative processes involved in taking forward the initiative for creation of a separate state of Telangana are least of the concerns of the Congress. The party is deeply embarrassed by the no-confidence motion mooted by its MPs but is not yet decided on how to deal with them.
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The Congress spokesperson P.C. Chacko did talk of party taking disciplinary action against the MPs but so far no concrete step has been taken. In fact the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath spoke in sympathetic terms about the MPs.
“It is definitely weird but they are pained,” the Minister said when asked about Congress MPs talking of bringing a no-confidence motion against their own government.
Failed efforts so far of the MPs to garner minimum support to sustain the motion, one-tenth of the effective strength of the Lok Sabha would have to back it, have no deterred them from claiming that they are still in the process of securing the required numbers.
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Mr. Kamal Nath dismissed any threat in the wake of plans a no-confidence motion.
“The government has the numbers and any no-confidence motion will not succeed...The government has majority. So the question of any no-confidence motion succeeding does not arise,” he said.
The BJP leader L.K. Advani told reporters here that the Andhra MPs had initially approached the party for support but after looking at the text of the motion, the party decided to give it a re-look.