UPA nears trial; Opposition, govt try to keep flock intact

New Delhi, Jul 20 (UNI) In the last 55 years the Congress has not lost any trust vote or no-confidence motion in Parliament.

Will it change tomorrow when the Lok Sabha meets at 1100 hrs for a two-day session for the Confidence Motion of the Manmohan Singh government? The answer to the million-dollar-question will be known on July 22.

The UPA government today 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) today 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 UPA government and the Nuclear pact will be doomed during the July 22 trust vote.

The Left sources claim that they have already got the support of as many as 273 MPs, while the magic mark is 272. They also expect at least five RJD MPs to come on their side.

RLD chief Ajit Singh reached the conclusion, keeping the Congress guessing for almost two weeks, after he met BSP supremo Mayawati, TDP's Chandrababu Naidu, leaders of the Left and other parties.

It is understood that Mr Singh has been offered greater number of seats from Uttar Pradesh than offered by the Congress for the coming Lok Sabha polls.

JD(S) chief and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda announced that all his three MPs would vote against the UPA.

In a reprieve after the RLD setback, which brought to rest all speculations about his support to the UPA, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) President Shibu Soren also pledged the backing of his party to the government during the trust vote.

DMK MP and former Union IT and communication minister Dayanidhi Maran broke his silence by speaking out in favour of the Congress-led UPA government.

All India Mujlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi, MP, also announced his support for the UPA stating that the UPA had done a lot for the welfare of the Muslims in the country and that the UPA had constituted a separate Ministry for Minority Welfare and the Sachar Committee to study the socio-economic standards of the Muslims.

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