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UPA buying MPs for trust vote, alleges Bardhan
Published on Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 22:55, Updated on Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 01:10 in Nation section
Tags: Indo-US Nuclear Deal, UPA , New Delhi
A QUESTION OF FEW VOTES: The UPA is just short of the half-way mark in the Lok Sabha.
New Delhi: The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are busy trying to ensure that there are no surprises at Tuesday's Vote of Confidence in the Lok Sabha.
One of the strategies would be to get parties to abstain during the floor test and it is likely to be the UPA's best case for survival.
But even as political parties begin counting their numbers ahead of the trust vote for the Manmohan Singh government next week, allegations are flying thick and fast.
On Monday, Communist Party of India General Secretary AB Barhdan accused the Central Government of buying MPs ahead of the trust vote.
"It is not one or two crore. It is Rs 25 crore. These horse traders are giving away Rs 25 crore," Bardhan charged.
Predictably, the Congress dismissed the charge.
"Merely making allegations or using words cannot be a substitute for cold hard facts," All India Congress Committee spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi replied about Bardhan's accusation.
The acrimony only reflects just how high the stakes are, and just how tight the race has become.
In the 543-member Lok Sabha, 272 is the half-way mark and the UPA is confident of the support of 269 MPs.
On the other hand, the Opposition is certain of at least 262 MPs. So it's the remaining 12 MPs belonging to the smaller parties like the HD Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular) and Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal that could be decisive.
But the UPA's tally includes MPs from parties like the four-member Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, whose leader Shibu Soren wants a Union Ministry or the chief ministership of Jharkhand as part of the bargain.
"Mr Shibu Soren had earlier held a portfolio which you have mentioned. What he will hold in the future, if he will hold something or not is entirely the Prime Minister's prerogative," Singhvi said.
It's such uncertainty over the loyalties of the smaller parties that are now leading the UPA strategists to look for another route to safety like ensuring abstentions from a section of the Opposition, including even some BJP MPs who are not against the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal.
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, "The fact remains that there is a desperation mounting in the UPA as every day they are losing ground. It seems they are not going to muster majority."
With a week to go for the confidence vote, the UPA it seems has a clear advantage, but still not a decisive one.
And as the smaller parties hold the key, their bargaining power is likely to grow, a fact that both the ruling UPA and its opponents will have to come to terms with.
Moreover, the UPA could get another setback as former Union Minister and Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam MP Dayanidhi Maran is reportedly planning to abstain from the confidence vote.
This could reduce the UPA numbers by one. Maran has been having a running feud with the DMK leadership and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M Karunanidhi.
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This daily attack & mud-slinging by Communists puts even Goebbels to shame. With just 59 members, communists held Congress gove
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This is the last hurrah of the left that is so determined to bring down the Government that it is
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