Congress takes stand: No-confidence motion against govt on Manipur issue
New Delhi, July 26: The Congress party is set to move a motion of no confidence against the government in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, focusing on the issue of "governance failures in the state of Manipur."
Top sources within the party confirmed that the decision to present the notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has been made, and the entire opposition is in agreement with this move.
The last no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government was brought by the TDP in July 2018, addressing alleged discrimination against Andhra Pradesh. However, the government successfully survived the motion.
Interestingly, Prime Minister Modi, while speaking in Lok Sabha on February 7, 2019, had predicted that the opposition would bring a no-confidence motion against him in 2023. In a viral speech, Modi had challenged the opposition to prepare themselves for such a motion but also made remarks about the decline of their political influence.
Assam MP of Congress, Gaurav Gogoi, is expected to lead the motion, which will need the support of at least 50 MPs in Lok Sabha to be listed for debate. Once the support is enlisted, the Speaker, Om Birla, can schedule the motion for debate within 10 days of adoption.
The opposition views this no-confidence motion as their final recourse to compel PM Modi to address the concerns regarding Manipur and demonstrate solidarity with the north-eastern state.
Since the commencement of the parliamentary session on July 20, the functioning of Parliament has been disrupted as the opposition demands the PM's statement on the situation in Manipur. They seek an extended debate on the issue, suspending all other parliamentary business.
On the other hand, the government asserts that the PM had already addressed the situation in Manipur with customary remarks at the start of the session, condemning the violence. They have offered a debate under the rules of short-duration discussion, which involves no voting and is time-bound.
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- With inputs from agencies
