Key Highlights A day before the vote on the no-confidence motion passed by the opposition parties against the Modi govt in LS, several political parties have revealed their stand on the motion. A look at all the developments from the day: * The ruling BJP expressed confidence that it would be able to defeat the motion as it has a majority in the Lok Sabha, and hoped that it would also manage support from some opposition parties. "The numbers are very clear. The BJP by itself has a majority in the lower house. We have nearly 314 members within the NDA and there are many other parties which are likely to oppose this no-confidence motion - because this is completely pointless," BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao told reporters outside Parliament. * Shiv Sena decided to vote against the motion. The party has issued a whip for its MPs, directing them to support the government. Earlier, BJP president Amit Shah had spoken to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray over the phone for motion. * Union Minister Ananth Kumar said just like in 1996, the Congress party will be proven wrong yet again in the trust vote in Parliament. "Sonia ji's maths is weak. They had calculated similarly in 1996. We know what happened then. Their calculation is wrong yet again. The Narendra Modi government has a majority, both, inside and outside Parliament. NDA will vote against the no-confidence motion. NDA+ will also support us," Kumar said while citing the example of the no-confidence motion against Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1996. * BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha said that he will follow party's order and vote against the motion. "I think there are intellectuals in opposition but they should've done it later. Because we have the numbers and our moral is also up. I haven't left BJP and party hasn't left me. As long as I am in BJP, I'll support it and follow every whip," he said. * Aam Aadmi Party issued a whip to all its four Lok Sabha members to vote in favour of the motion. The chief whip, Bhagwant Mann, issued the directive that will be binding on the four MPs of the party in the Lok Sabha, said a senior AAP leader. Among them is the party's suspended MP from Patiala Dharamvir Gandhi. * The ruling BJD in Odisha will reveal its stand on motion tomorrow, a senior party leader said. * TDP MP JC Diwakar Reddy has decided not to attend the session as he is "fed up" of his party and the Centre. "I am not going to attend the Parliament session. You can say that I violated the party whip instructions. I am fed up with Centre and our TDP government. And I am fed up with the whole political system. Right now, I am in my native place in Anantapur and will come in front of the media with my logic within a week," Reddy told ANI. * The AIADMK, with 37 members in the Lok Sabha, indicated that it might not support the opposition's no-confidence motion against the BJP-led NDA government. "We haven't brought this. It is Andhra's issue and they brought this. We in Tamil Nadu struggled for 22 days in Parliament for Cauvery Management Board issue. We stalled proceedings. Who came to us? Which state came forward and helped in our cause?" AIADMK Joint Coordinator and Tamil Nadu chief minister K. Palaniswami. * DMK leader MK Stalin in a statement said the party would extend "moral support" to the no-confidence motion. (The DMK does not have any member in the Lok Sabha.)<doc-sep>REUTERS – After 12-hour-long debate, the motion of no-confidence against Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s government moved by the opposition was defeated by voice and division vote on Friday (July 20). Speaker of the Indian Parliament, Sumitra Mahajan tabled the motion for a voice vote first, after which she ruled that the treasury benches have won the poll. Following this, the division vote was recorded with the help of automatic vote recording system. The Modi government sailed through the vote with 325 votes. The Opposition gathered 126 votes against the government. The heated debate saw much of the drama as the opposition parties surrounded the ruling party from all sides. Earlier in the day, Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi created a flutter in parliament on Friday, giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi a surprise hug during a heated debate and said he had nothing but love for his bitter political foe. During his speech, Modi attacked the opposition and said that in reality, it was Gandhi’s ‘trial’ for support from his allies in the opposition for 2019 nation-wide elections, in the guise of the no-confidence motion. The ruling BJP is setting up next year’s vote as a presidential-style contest between the experienced Modi with long years of service in government against Gandhi, portrayed as a political novice handed the reins of his Congress party because of the accident of birth.<doc-sep>New Delhi: The Lok Sabha today took up for debate the no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government. This is the first no-confidence vote India will see in 15 years. The Modi government won the voice vote held in parliament at around 11 pm. The motion was moved by the Telugu Desam Party and admitted by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Wednesday, July 18, the first day of the monsoon session of parliament. MP Jayadev Galla initiated the debate on behalf of the party. “People are tired of empty promises and unfulfilled promises,” Galla said, bringing up the issue of special category status for Andhra Pradesh. “It is not a war between TDP and BJP, but between morality and majority. Motion of no confidence is against the lack of fairness, lack of trust, lack of unbiased approach towards Andhra Pradesh.” When Galla said that neighbouring states received more during the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana Rashtra Samiti jumped into the well to protest. The speaker asked for calm in the house. According to the MP, Andhra Pradesh had been deceived, “Since 2016, we have been waiting for the special package that the Union finance minister had said would be equivalent to a Special Category Status (SCS). You (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) deceived us into believing and agreeing to the special package on the lines of the 14th Finance Commission. You didn’t even bother giving it legislative backing.” After Galla, BJP MP Rakesh Singh addressed the Lok Sabha. He attacked Rahul Gandhi and previous Congress governments, saying, “This time the no-confidence motion is distinct from all other motions of no confidence till now. For the first time, we are seeing a no-confidence motion against a government that is working so well for the country. We recently saw Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy shed tears and say that he has gulped poison in order to form the coalition. I am not sure how many parties have to do the same if they support the motion.” Singh said that the Narendra Modi government has been “extremely successful” in raising the issues of poor people and bringing them out of poverty. He brought up several schemes including the Ujjwala Yojana, Ayushman Bharat and crop insurance schemes to claim that the poor in the country would “fold their hand in thanks to the prime minister”. Rahul Gandhi on Modi’s ‘jumla strike’ Congress president Rahul Gandhi spoke after Singh, beginning his speech by talking to Galla. “You are a victim of the fantastic 21st century political weapon and there are many other victims like you. This weapon is called the ‘jumla strike’. The farmers, Dalits, tribals, youths and women are also victims of this weapon,” Gandhi said. “Symptoms of the jumla strike include: First there is a great sense of excitement and happiness. After that there is shock and then followed by regret. Youth in India trusted Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In every speech he gave, he said he will give jobs to two crore youth. But only four lakh people have got jobs,” the Congress president continued. Gandhi also brought up Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah in his speech. “He said he is India’s chowkidaar. But when Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah increases his income by 16,000 times, Prime Minister Modi remains mum,” he said. The speaker said Jay Shah’s name would be expunged from the parliament records. Gandhi next moved to Nirmala Sitharaman and the Rafale deal. “Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said she will tell the country about the cost. Then she said it’s a secrecy pact between both countries. I asked the French president about this secrecy pact but he denied the existence of any such pact. He also told me that he had no problems in making public the cost,” Gandhi said. “I looked Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the eye, and he couldn’t even face me. He is not a chowkidaar, he is bhaghidaar,” Gandhi continued. Several BJP MPs including Ananth Kumar protested as Gandhi gave his speech. “Dariye mat (Don’t be scared),” Gandhi said to them. The speaker then adjourned the session for a few minutes. Once the session was resumed, she asked for peace in the house. After Gandhi resumed speaking, he said Modi and Amit Shah “cannot afford to lose power because when they do, other processes will start against them”. At the end of his speech, he walked across to the prime minister and hugged him. Modi looked surprised, and shook Gandhi’s hand. The speaker gave Nirmala Sitharaman a chance to speak after Gandhi, saying that she deserved the chance to respond to the allegations that had been made. The defence minister said that Gandhi’s allegations regarding the Rafale deal were “completely wrong”. The BJP has said that it will be moving a privilege motion against the Congress chief for his remarks on Modi, News18 reported. Later in the evening, the French government issued a statement taking cognisance of Gandhi’s remarks, ANI reported. The statement said that India and France had agreed to protect classified information provided by the other. We have noted the statement of Mr Rahul Gandhi before the Indian Parliament. France and India concluded in 2008 a Security agreement, which legally binds the two States to protect the classified information provided by the partner:France statement 1/2 — ANI (@ANI) July 20, 2018 Gandhi has defended himself, saying he wasn’t alone in the meeting. “I stand by what I said. Let them (France) deny if they want. Along with me Anand Sharma and Ex-PM were also there.” Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy address the Lok Sabha next, criticising the Modi government for its farmers’ policy, demonetisation and rising incidents of lynching. “The BJP wants Congress-mukt Bharat and a Muslim-mukt Bharat but the Trinamool Congress wants an India that does not live in fear,” Roy said. Telangana Rashtra Samithi president Vinod Kumar Boinapalli, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, Communist Party of India (Marxist) legislator Mohammad Salim also addressed the Lower House. Opposition doesn’t know what people want: Rajnath Singh<doc-sep>New Delhi: The outcome of the no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government was predetermined – it was handily defeated late on Friday night after the Telugu Desam Party insisted on a formal division of the votes. While 325 MPs stood against the motion, those in favour were 126. There were zero abstentions after the Shiv Sena – an ally of the National Democratic Alliance – walked out of the house in the morning itself , as did the the Biju Janata Dal and Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Yet, in what can be called the first major perception clash in the run-up to the 2019 general elections, the motion became a parliamentary exercise for both the ruling coalition and the opposition to advance their electoral agenda. While the government claimed the win as a reminder that it enjoys almost a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha, the opposition projected debate as one where it sought answers from an opaque government. As expected, the debate became an opportunity for Congress president Rahul Gandhi to launch a full-throttle attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Later, after a day-long debate, the prime minister hit back, taking more than an hour and a half to respond to charges made by the opposition – and take several swipes at Rahul Gandhi and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Modi’s speech Early in his speech, Modi gave an indication of what the BJP is likely push in the run-up to the 2019 elections. Just like his colleagues who spoke through the day, the prime minister made it clear that his campaign for 2019 might not be any different from 2014. The bulk of his reply to the motion focussed on attacking previous Congress regimes – exactly the way he launched his campaign in the run-up to the 2014 elections. Still in opposition mode despite having ruled for four years, the prime minister appeared convinced that highlighting the failures of the Congress before speaking about his own achievements was the winning hand to be played. In his characteristic style, Modi attacked the opposition for being “pessimistic” and “misleading the public” through false propaganda. This is because the opposition, according to the prime minister, “has no confidence in itself”. To the opposition’s charge that minority groups are at the receiving end of Hindutva violence, he replied that the last 18,000 villages his government electrified are inhabited by Dalits and adivasis. In turn, he accused the Congress of deliberately ignoring these villages as it did not bring the party any substantial gain. “The government has moved forward with the slogan of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ without resorting to politics of appeasement and vote bank calculations,” he said, code for the accusation that the Congress is a “Muslim party”. In response to Rahul Gandhi’s criticism that the NDA took care of big businesses at the cost of farmers and small businessmen, Modi asserted his government’s pro-poor stance and presented a long list of schemes that he felt would benefit all. “Today, around Rs 80,000 crore has been deposited in more than 32 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts. Eight crore toilets have been built. More than 4.5 crore women are leading smoke-free lives because of our Ujjwala scheme. At the same time, lakhs would benefit from Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme. Rs 80,000 crore is being spent on irrigation projects. Why couldn’t the Congress introduce these?” he asked. He also tried to build some confidence as he talked about the country rising several notches in the ease of doing business rankings. “It is because of our efforts that India has become the sixth largest economy and if it moves ahead at this pace, it could become the third largest with more than a trillion dollar economy.” Although most of these claims have already become contentious, Modi cited the same numbers that his partymen have been touting for months. In many ways, his speech sounded repetitive. While he talked about his achievements, he did not touch upon many of the crucial issues that the opposition raised through the day. The prime minister remained silent on the issue of increasing mob lynching incidents (other than to urge state governments to act) and did not give a clear answer to the controversial Rafale combat planes deal (the cost of which remained unanswered). Nor did he address the concerns raised on the security of Dalits and minorities. While he focussed on the economy, he dismissed social concerns as merely a part of the opposition’s “pessimistic” politics. Throughout his speech, his primary concern was to outwit the Congress as he touched upon the issue of Andhra Pradesh’s demand of a special category status only for about five minutes in his lengthy reply. Here too, he accused the Telugu Desam Party – which had moved the motion against the government for denying Andhra Pradesh ‘special status’ – of making a “U-turn to hide their failures.” He said that the government was going by the recommendations made by the Finance Commission in not granting special status to the state. Yet, he said, the government had devised a “special assistance package” which would have met all the requirements of a special category state. He said that state chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had approved of this plan in September 2017, but faced with backlash from the YSR Congress, Modi said, he had started shifting the blame on to the Centre. The prime minister also chose the occasion to respond to an accusation that his government has been facing for some months now – that the BJP’s policies and cronyism has led to an unprecedented burden on Indian banks as debt-laden companies defaulted. He, however, blamed the whole crisis on the Congress. “The story of NPAs began in 2008. 2009 was an election year. It was in 2008 that the Congress started the loot of banks by allowing multiple loans to its favourites.” “I was shocked when we came to power. You will be amazed to know that banks had loaned only Rs 18 lakh crore for 60 years of independence but between 2008 and 2014, the loans increased to Rs 52 lakh crore.<doc-sep>
Today is an important day in our Parliamentary democracy. I am sure my fellow MP colleagues will rise to the occasi… https://t.co/arei2Ys5S4 — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 1532052417000 No confidence vote: PM Modi calls for constructive debate, no disruption NEW DELHI: Ahead of the first no-confidence motion against his government on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted early morning to say it "is an important day in our Parliamentary democracy", and that he hopes there's "constructive" debate because "India will be watching us closely. "Referring obliquely to the last few Parliamentary sessions, which were dominated by disruptions, unruly behaviour and walk-outs, PM Modi hoped Friday wouldn't end up like that. "I'm sure my fellow MP colleagues will rise to the occasion and ensure constructive, comprehensive and disruption free debate. We owe this to the people and the makers of our Constitution," he said in his tweet.The no-trust vote , moved by former NDA ally the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and supported by many, though not all, in the opposition, will be debated and voted on, on Friday in the Lok Sabha (LS). On Wednesday, LS speaker Sumitra Mahajan allowed the no-trust move to be introduced, taking the opposition by surprise, because in the last Parliamentary session, several attempts made by the opposition to introduce a similar motion were resisted by the speaker.On Friday, the opposition is expected to lambast the BJP-led NDA government on several issues , especially lynchings and cow vigilantism, farm distress and what it calls growing polarisation in the country due to the BJP.The government will attack the opposition, mainly the Congress, for what it says are opportunistic alliances and for "doublespeak" on issues like triple talaq and corruption. And like the opposition will, the government too is expected to accuse opponents of polarisation and communal mobilisation.Both Modi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi are expected to participate in the debate. The BJP expects the PM's intervention toward the end of the day-long debate, when he will highlight the performance of his government so far.Congress sources said their president will make a forceful intervention accusing the PM of being unable to deliver on his government's promises, mismanaging the economy and promoting majoritarian politics.In terms of numbers, the BJP-led NDA - on paper - should be able to defeat the no-confidence motion with ease. There are 533 seats in the Lok Sabha. The magic number both sides will be looking for is 268.The BJP-led NDA has 313 members (including the Speaker), and they include 274 from the BJP, 18 from the Shiv Sena, six from the Ram Vilas Paswan-led LJP and four from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).The Shiv Sena is keeping everyone guessing which way it will go. Vocal BJP dissenter Shatrughan Sinha said on Thursday he will vote against the motion, that is, he will vote for the BJP. It's unclear how other dissenters like Kirti Azad and Savitri Bai Phule will vote.The opposition parties expected to vote for the no-trust moved against the government - including the Congress, TMC, NCP, SP and CPM - have 172 seats.Abstentions will help bring the halfway mark - 268 - down and increase the margin of BJP's victory.