Small groups in the Lok Sabha such as JMM, JD(S) and National Conference played the cards close to their chest on Tuesday by refusing to divulge which side they will vote for in the Lok Sabha on the confidence motion on 22nd July.
With a week to go for the trial of strength, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed confidence that his government would secure the vote of confidence, while Akali Dal announced its decision to vote against the government.
JMM, a constituent of the UPA having five MPs, continued to maintain suspense over its strategy on 22nd July voting, reserving the decision to be taken at its parliamentary party meeting on 19th July.
JMM chief Sibu Soren, who is said to be nursing a grouse for not being re-inducted into the cabinet, did not indicate to reporters about what the party will do.
He talked about his party’s support to Congress at a time when the nation was faced with a situation and that his party MPs were upset, but did not say over what.
This was interpreted as a reference to his non-inclusion into the cabinet.
The Core Group of the two-member National Conference, which met in Srinagar, authorised party president Omar Abdullah to take a decision on the confidence vote.
Ahead of the meeting, Abdullah said all options were open to them.
The JD(S), which has three members, will take a decision on 18th July, its President H D Deve Gowda said on Tuesday, but attacked Congress and BJP for their attitude towards the party in Karnataka.
One of the three members M P Veerendra Kumar has already announced that he will vote against the government.
In Chandigarh, Akali Dal which has eight MPs, on Tuesday scotched all speculation about the party toeing a soft line in view of the Prime Minister’s sikh origin, saying it would vote against the government.
Dal supremo and Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal said his party has a clear-cut policy against the Congress and it has decided not not to support the government.
“Our party does not not believe in horse-trading. SAD MPs will vote along with the NDA during the confidence vote,” he said dismissing speculation that the MPs might abstain.
“Our MPs will not not run away from the battle field,” he said.
Asked whether Akali Dal would not not be blamed for dislodging the first Sikh prime minister if the government is defeated, Badal said “instead of adopting a conservative approach, we should have a broad thinking on the matter.
“If this is the case, then tomorrow all Hindus, Christians and Muslims will start voting for the man of their community and religion,” he said.
However, he praised Singh as an “able and respectable person” but was in a party that had committed injustice to Sikhs.
He said there were no no differences in the party and there was no no confusion on the issue. There will also be no whip to the MPs.
In his first public comments after the Left parties withdrew support to his government, the Prime Minister was confidence that his government will win in the trial of strength.
“The Prime Minister expressed confidence that the people of India understood the significance of the initiatives being taken by the UPA government and endorse them,” a press release issued by the Prime Minister’s office said after his interaction with a group of television journalists.
Meanwhile, there were questions over how suspended DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran would vote.
Sources close to him said he might abstain from voting against the backdrop of strained relations with his granduncle and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.
Not voting was one of the options being considered by him since he was not against the Congress-led government as such, the sources said.
However, senior DMK leader and Union Minister T R Baalu expressed confidence that Maran would not not defy the party whip as “he knows how to react to a party direction”.
In the Opposition, the BJP said on Tuesday that it has issued a whip to all its MPs to be present and voting against the government in the confidence vote.
Likewise, BJP Parliamentary party spokesman V K Malhotra, said allies Akali Dal, Shiv Sena, BJD and JD(U) have also given whips to their MPs.
Leader of the Opposition L K Advani is hosting a dinner on 20th July to all the NDA MPs ahead of the vote.
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