No-confidence motion: BJP gets 3.5 hours to speak, Congress 38 minutes

The stage is set for a political slugfest between the ruling NDA and the opposition parties as a motion of no-confidence against the Narendra Modi government will be taken up in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, Congress partys Mallikarjun Kharge and other leaders. Photo: PTI

NEW DELHI: The stage is set for a political slugfest between the ruling NDA and the opposition parties as a motion of no-confidence against the Narendra Modi government will be taken up in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The BJP, however, made light of the Congress's claim that the Opposition had the numbers to back its no-confidence motion against the government. According to sources in the ruling party, it is confident of getting the support of as many as 314 MPs in the Lok Sabha. BJP sources said the Narendra Modi-led government would get the support of 314 MPs in the Lower House, which has an effective strength of 533 at present. The list of the 314 MPs, however, did not include the name of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who was also a BJP MP, they added. The majority mark in the Lok Sabha currently is 267. In a House of 533 members, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has 313 MPs, including 274 (including the speaker) of the BJP, 18 of the Shiv Sena, six of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and four of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The stated strength of the Opposition in the Lower House is 222, including 63 MPs of the Congress-led UPA, 37 of the AIADMK, 34 of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), 20 of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), 16 of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and 11 of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). It is the first time in 15 years that a no-confidence motion has been moved against the government. Though the Narendra Modi-led NDA government has enough numbers to sail through, the no-trust vote is being viewed as the first test of opposition unity before the 2019 elections. The Opposition is seeking to use the opportunity to send a message from the floor of the Lok Sabha about the failures of the Modi government, to build enough momentum ahead of the polls. Time Allotment for the discussion over no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha

• BJP: 3 hours 33 minutes
• Congress: 38 minutes
• AIADMK: 29 minutes
• TMC: 27 minutes
• BJD: 15 minutes
• Shiv Sena: 14 minutes
• TRS: 9 minutes
• TDP: 13 minutes
• CPIM: 7 minutes
• NCP: 6 minutes
• SP: 6 minutes
• LJP: 5 minutes
• SAD, RLSP, AD etc: 12 minutes

According to a senior leader, the Congress's Gulam Nabi Azad had a discussion with other opposition leaders, who agreed that since other parties have supported the TDP's no-confidence motion, the southern party should also reciprocate and mention the issues raised by them in the House. "We had discussed at our last meeting that the TDP, apart from its main agenda of special status to Andhra Pradesh, should also raise issues such as lynching, communal violence, farmer suicides and other issues mentioned by the other opposition parties. This will certainly show that the Opposition is united against the government. We have already spoken to TDP leaders about it," he said. (With inputs from PTI)