New Delhi, July 19 (UNI) The CPI-M on Thursday said it does not matter much on whether members belonging to its arch rival Trinamool Congress can participate and vote on the No Confidence Motion in Lok Sabha on Friday as even in 2008, Mamata Banerjee had stayed away form voting during the trial of strength on a "much important issue".
"Why you are raising these....it is their (Trinamool Congress) view and they have raised it. But in 2008 when the Manmohan Singh government had moved the Motion of Confidence, Banerjee though lone member of Trinamool then had stayed away from the debate and voting," CPI-M spokesman and leader Mohammad Salim told reporters here.
The trial of strength in 2008 was on "much important issue" and the voting was on July 22 (2008) - a day after Trinamool Congress's Shahid Diwas - but Mamata Banerjee had stayed away from the debate and voting.
In 2008, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had moved the Motion of Confidence after Left parties support to the UPA-regime over the issue of Civil Nuclear deal with the United States.
The remarks from CPI-M leader comes a day after Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi made a request in the Lok Sabha that the day of debate and voting should be deferred till Monday, July 23 instead of Friday (July 20).
"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)," Mr Trivedi requested the Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
Otherwise, he said Trinamool members will miss the debate in the House and such a possibility will not be good for democracy.
On July 21, 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.
Answering questions, Mr Salim said the No Trust motion debate in the House on Friday would be more important from the perspective of a debate than the final outcome of the voting. "It is not about numbers merely," he said adding the Left parties are more interested in highlighting issues and 'agony' being suffered by the people including farmers.
"Your concern could be whether the government survives or not....from Left parties we are more interested in highlighting issues. At least now the farmers agony will get a space in public debate," he said.
The CPI-M leader blasted the Modi government saying with regard the performance of this dispensation, everyone talks about "how many hours the Prime Minister works".
As a matter of fact, this was not very crucial, he said and went to say: "Even termite works for 24 hours, but it is important to assess what is the construction or destruction".
"Performance and what is your mission is more important. Can we say even Nirav Modi who had fled India used to work less?," he said.
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