We are not poaching into rival camp votes : Congress

New Delhi, Jul 19 (UNI) With just two days left for the July 22 trust vote to decide the fate of the 50-month-old UPA government, a confident Congress Party today said it was only consolidating the coalition's vote and never tried to poach into the rival camps votes.

AICC General Secretary in charge of Media Veerappa Moily, however, said there would be abstentions from the BJP and the Shiv Sena 'as per the facts available to us." "We are straightforward. We have a gentleman Prime Minister (Dr Manmohan Singh) who does not believe in horse trading," he said, while pointing out that the Congress had not given room for any manipulation.

Asked if the ruling UPA had adequate number of MPs to sail through the trust vote, Mr Moily said "we would not have sought trust vote without numbers." In this context, he said some independent MPs would also vote with the goveornemnt. "That is enough for us to get a majority." He said the Congress expected the BJP and others in the rival camp to play a fair political game.

Asked how many abstentions were being expected from the rival BJP-led camp, Mr Moily said : "We know there have been differences in the BJP and the Shiv Sena. There are bound to be some abstentions." On question of how many MPs would support the government during the trust vote on July 22, he said " there is no reason to be diffident. We have been confident about our winning the trust vote." Asked if the government would resign if it was not sure of winning the trust vote, Mr Moily said : "such a question does not arise. We don't expect such a situation." When a journalist asked if the Congress had struck a deal with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) for its support to the government, he said such a question was irrelevant as the JMM had been part and parcel of the UPA coalition right from its formation in 2004.

Asked if the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Mr Ajith Singh had offered its support to the government, Mr Moily said "He will take his own decision." UNI SH AKJ HT1705