Special Lok Sabha session begins

New Delhi, July 21 : The two-day special session of the Lok Sabha will begin here today where the trust vote by the UPA government will be taken up.

The special session is being held after Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh expressed his desire to seek a trust vote in the wake of Left parties withdrawing support.

A one line confidence motion will be moved by the Prime Minister, followed by a debate on the motion and the vote on Tuesday. At the end of the debate, he is also expected to reply to it before the motion would be put to vote.

Top leaders of the Congress as also its supporting parties are expected to participate in the discussion and Leader of Opposition LK Advani is among the likely prominent speakers from the BJP.

There would be no Question Hour and the trust vote would be taken up immediately.

On eve of session, Dr. Singh hosted a dinner for the leaders of UPA, which got a shot in the arm with the announcement of support by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which has five MPs in the Lok Sabha.

On the other hand, the Opposition's morale was boosted with Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal and Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular) each having three members in the House announcing their decisions to vote against the confidence motion to be moved by the Prime Minister.

The rebel Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) members, Dayananidhi Maran and lone member of All-India Majlis-E Ittehadul Muslimeel Asaduddin Owaisi have pledged their support to UPA.

Trinamool Congress with one MP is likely to abstain from voting. One Shiv Sena MP is reported to be favouring the nuclear deal and may vote with the UPA.

The rebel Samajwadi Party Atiq Ahmad told reporters in the Capital that he will take a final decision on the issue after the debate on the nuclear deal.

Since the Sixth Lok Sabha, this will be the 11th confidence motion moved by a government.

In 1999, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government lost a trust vote in the Lok Sabha by one vote. The BJP-led government had sought the trust vote following withdrawal of support by Jayalalithaa's AIADMK.

ANI