New Delhi, July 18 (UNI) Hours after the TDP sponsored No Trust Motion against the Modi government was accepted for debate in Lok Sabha, the government on Wednesday said an united NDA will defeat it with massive margin and claimed even non-NDA parties will be voting against the motion.
"Hum mooh tod jawab denge (We will give a befitting response)," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar told reporters and claimed in addition to all the NDA allies who are rock solid behind the government - "even non-NDA parties will be voting against the motion".
"NDA ek jut ho kar, is Avishwas Prastav ki gala ghot degi (An united NDA will virtually take the opposition parties' motion of No Confidence to its logical end)," he said when asked if the government was confident of support of its allies like Akali Dal and Shiv Sena.
However, the Minister skirted any direct reply on whether the BJP has tried to reach out to parties like Biju Janata Dal of Naveen Patnaik and AIADMK.
"It is too early to comment on these," he said.
Mr Kumar said Parliament and the entire country is confident that the No Trust Motion will be rejected outright in the House. "Since 2014, this government has been getting the support of people in elections after elections in various states. People have been reposing confidence in the Modi government," he said.
The Minister said the NDA dispensation under Prime Minister Modi is being run with 'full and strong majority' in Parliament and in as many as 21 states the BJP or the NDA allies are in power.
"Despite these facts, the opposition parties have brought in the No Confidence motion," he said adding "well, it is within their right".
"There is 100 confidence that the Modi will attain success in rejecting the motion with a big margin," he said.
The Minister said in fact bringing such a motion hardly has any meaning. "But in the garb of the No Trust motion, the opposition wants to make baseless allegation and raise some issues which are being spread across the country only to spread some falsehood".
"They want to raise these issues in Parliament also, but their efforts will fail. On all these issues, the Modi government is read to give a befitting reply and yet again we can highlight all our achievements and works carried out in the last four years," Mr Kumar said.
To a question that the government took sometime to accept the Motion for debate as these have been raised in previous sessions also, the Minister said in effect the fault line on this lies with the Congress.
"Today is the first day of the Monsoon session and it is accepted. Even today, Congress did not place their Motion on time as the Motion from TDP had come first. The Rule 298 is clear that any motion coming ahead of others should get preference," he said.
"Even during Budget session, the Congress party did not bring the No Confidence motion on the first day. They brought it on March 27 whereas the second part of Budget session had begun on March 5".
Referring to Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge's observation in the House on Wednesday that the Motion should be taken up within 10 days, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said therefore the Speaker's decision on the matter in consultation with the Business Advisory Committee was in the right direction.
"It is surprising that even on this, now the opposition parties are being hesitant".
His reference was to Mr Kharge and Trinamool member Dinesh Trivedi making a request in the House to defer the debate on No Trust motion till Monday.
"Everybody knows we observe Shahid Divas on July 21 when 14 youths were killed by police....kindly consider to change it to Monday (July 23)," said Trinamool MP Mr Trivedi.
Otherwise, Mr Trivedi said Trinamool members will miss the debate in the House and such a possibility will "not be good for democracy".
Earlier, the Speaker said No Confidence Motion will be taken on Friday from 11 am onwards.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister said as the Speaker has made the announcement of the debate day and time, there could be no change in the schedule.
Ms Mahajan, however, said while she is is open to "listen" to a member's views but she would not allow any debate on the issue in the House.
Mr Trivedi and his other colleague Saugata Roy - present in the House - staged walkout in protest.
On July 21 every year, Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress observe Martyr's Day to commemorate the 1993 Kolkata firing by the West Bengal Police during a rally by the West Bengal Youth Congress.
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