No-trust Vote: BJP to bust Opposition unity

Hyderabad: The No-Confidence Motion against the BJP-led NDA government in the Lok Sabha on Friday is not just about the numbers in the House but will expose which party is with the BJP and which party is with the Opposition or Congress.  The outcome could also determine whether the upcoming general election is advanced to November or December this year or held in April/May 2019 as originally scheduled.

The fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to a No-Confidence Motion despite Opposition parties lacking the required numbers to defeat the government, shows that he wants to make clear the political leanings of various parties ahead of crucial elections. Mr Modi sees it as an opportunity to drive home the point that the so-called “grand alliance” or “federal front” or “third front” or anti-NDA unity is not as strong as it seems or is being projected by some opposition leaders and parties. 

The Shiv Sena has already announced that it will vote in favour of the government. By garnering the support of “secret friends” in the form of “non-aligned” regional parties like the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, the YSR Congress, the AIADMK, the JD(S), Shiv Sena, the Prime Minister wants to weaken the impression of regional parties floating an anti-BJP front before the 2019 elections.

Regional parties like the YSRC, TRS, BJD, and the AIADMK etc have been maintaining secret ties with the BJP, but not coming out in the open.  The NCM will now force such parties out in the open.  The YSRC has already benefitted the BJP by making all its Lok Sabha members resign their seats and so has no role to play in the no-confidence motion. The TRS too is learnt to have decided to tread a pro-Modi path by abstaining from voting, if not directly voting against the motion.

The likely defeat of the no-confidence motion will give Mr Modi the opportunity to lay to rest the bogey of a front of national parties coming together in opposition as envisaged by Trinamul chief and WB CM Mamata Banerjee, and Telangana state CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao. The TD, though it moved the no-confidence motion, is also said to have a ‘secret pact’ with the BJP and it too will be exposed after the outcome of the motion. The speculation is the result of the BJP agreeing to take up the motion on the first day of the Monsoon Session though it had put off doing so right through the Budget session in March.