Modi govt not going to fall anyway: TDP MP to skip no-trust vote tomorrow

Amaravati: Ahead of the debate on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha on Friday, trouble seems to be brewing in the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) with one of its lawmakers announcing that he would not attend the House proceedings.

Anantapuramu MP JC Diwakar Reddy, who did not attend Parliament on Wednesday, said he would continue to stay away when the no-trust motion moved by the TDP is taken up for discussion, and also during the entire Monsoon session.

The party has issued a whip directing all its MPs to attend Parliament on Friday and Monday.

Reddy said it doesn’t matter even if a whip was issued.

“This is just a routine. The government is not going to fall anyway. And I cannot speak English or Hindi. So my presence or absence doesn’t matter,” he told reporters in Anantapuramu late last night.

“There are others who are well-versed in English and can speak well,” he added.

"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 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 added.

The MP, known for his outspoken attitude, is said to be sulking over the party leadership’s non-committal stance over allocation of ticket for the next election from Anantapuramu.

Reddy had previously announced he would retire from electoral politics.

The TDP is facing internal trouble with a member of Rajya Sabha as well, but it may not affect the no-confidence vote.

TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu is expected to speak to Reddy when he holds the daily teleconference with party leaders on Thursday.

On Sunday TDP President Chandrababu Naidu wrote letters to non-BJP, non-Congress parties' presidents and Parliamentary party leaders seeking support on a no-confidence motion against the Centre over demand for special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

Thereafter, the TDP made six-subgroups of the party leaders, who met and handover Chandrababu Naidu's letter and a booklet explaining the injustice done to the state and seek the support of various parties.

Meanwhile, this is the first no-confidence motion Prime Minister Narendra Modi's four-year-old government will face and the first to be taken up in 15 years, since the last BJP-led government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee faced one in 2003.

The government has enough numbers to sail through the motion, which is mostly a political message in a year of elections.