Numbers game in LS moves towards nail-biting finish on July 22

New Delhi, Jul 20 (UNI) The numbers game in the Lok Sabha moved towards a nail-biting finish on July 22 with the JMM pledging its backing to the UPA and the RLD and the JD (S) deciding to vote against the Confidence Motion of the Manmohan Singh government.

Unfazed by the decision of the Janata Dal (Secular) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to vote against the UPA government in the Lok Sabha on July 22, the Congress asserted that the government was not short of numbers to survive the trust vote.

''These two parties were neither the UPA partners nor a supporting group,'' AICC General Secretary Veerappa Moily told UNI pointing out that ''it would have been a bonus, had they voted with the government.'' The UPA government received a major setback when the RLD, which has three MPs in the lower house, decided to vote against the trust motion for which the House is meeting tomorrow at 1100 hrs.

Amid reports of dwindling numbers with the ruling UPA, the Left, the UNPA, the BSP and the JD(S) agreed on a one-point programme-'Topple the Government'.

The top leaders of all these parties met here and announced that all of them would work unitedly to ensure the defeat of the Government when it brings in a trust motion in the Lok Sabha at a special session beginning tomorrow.

They also announced that they would meet again on July 23 to decide their future course of action.

CPI(M)'s Prakash Karat claimed that the ... picking up from para eight, line one of DI43, POLITICS-TRUST VOTE-ROUNDUP.

UNI Team AKJ RP NS1932