Mamata dials UPA foes, fence-sitters
19 Nov 2012 6:43 AM IST
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who plans to push a no-confidence motion against the UPA government during the winter session of Parliament, reached out to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for garnering support on its anti-FDI stand on Sunday. Millennium Post has learnt that Banerjee has also approached the Left parties, the DMK and the AIADMK for supporting the ‘no confidence motion’ that the TMC plans to move on Day One of the winter session of Parliament.
Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi confirmed in Kolkata on Sunday that Banerjee had called up Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, to ask for support.
‘Mamata Banerjee has approached Sushma Swaraj,’ Joshi said. ‘When Swaraj is back from Mumbai after Bal Thackeray’s funeral, we will sit and discuss the issue,’ Joshi said.
Meanwhile, TMC leader and cabinet minister Subrata Mukherjee said he was hopeful about getting the numbers required in the floor of the house. ‘No party has said no to Mamata Banerjee till date. Let any party back out on that day and you will know that party has done a deal with the Congress,’ Mukherjee told Millennium Post.
The Trinamool Congress has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha and, as per rules, it needs to get the support of at least 50 MPs to push a no-confidence motion.
Asked if the numbers were adequate to win a no-confidence motion, Joshi said: ‘That is what we will sit and discuss. If the numbers are not adequate and the motion fails, the government becomes safe for the next six months within which another such motion cannot be brought. If the motion is passed and the government falls, you have to think of the next course of action.’
Joshi also said the UPA government has lost the mandate to run the government, a feeling which Banerjee has voiced repeatedly. Days after Mamata Banerjee’s TMC quit the UPA government in protest against allowing FDI in retail, she staged a ‘dharna’ at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. One is also left wondering how the Left parties, Mamata’s arch rivals in state politics, will react to her appeal in the arena of national politics.
Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi confirmed in Kolkata on Sunday that Banerjee had called up Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, to ask for support.
‘Mamata Banerjee has approached Sushma Swaraj,’ Joshi said. ‘When Swaraj is back from Mumbai after Bal Thackeray’s funeral, we will sit and discuss the issue,’ Joshi said.
Meanwhile, TMC leader and cabinet minister Subrata Mukherjee said he was hopeful about getting the numbers required in the floor of the house. ‘No party has said no to Mamata Banerjee till date. Let any party back out on that day and you will know that party has done a deal with the Congress,’ Mukherjee told Millennium Post.
The Trinamool Congress has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha and, as per rules, it needs to get the support of at least 50 MPs to push a no-confidence motion.
Asked if the numbers were adequate to win a no-confidence motion, Joshi said: ‘That is what we will sit and discuss. If the numbers are not adequate and the motion fails, the government becomes safe for the next six months within which another such motion cannot be brought. If the motion is passed and the government falls, you have to think of the next course of action.’
Joshi also said the UPA government has lost the mandate to run the government, a feeling which Banerjee has voiced repeatedly. Days after Mamata Banerjee’s TMC quit the UPA government in protest against allowing FDI in retail, she staged a ‘dharna’ at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. One is also left wondering how the Left parties, Mamata’s arch rivals in state politics, will react to her appeal in the arena of national politics.
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