UPA Govt. to seek trust vote today

New Delhi, July 22 : The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government will face the trust vote in the Lok Sabha today.

Ahead of trust vote, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh reiterated that his UPA Government would win the trust vote.

"I am confident that the government will win the trust vote," he told media persons late last evening after attending the first day of the two-day trust motion.

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the Congress-led alliance had the support of 276 MPs, clearly crossing the majority mark.

Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani countered by saying that the Prime Minister was "singularly" responsible for the current political crisis and held that the Indo-US nuclear deal has become an agreement between two individuals, making India "subservient" and a "junior partner."

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee made it clear she would abstain from Tuesday's voting. There was also intense speculation that around 10 MPs from BJP, Shiv Sena, JD (U) and BJD may abstain.

As the numbers game intensified, Mukherjee said in his "simple arithmetic", UPA's combined strength of 237 with Samajwadi party's 39 added upto 276. With the Lok Sabha having an effective strength of 541, the ruling coalition enjoyed a simple majority, he said.

If the government loses, early elections will be called and the Indo-US nuclear deal with the US, over which the government's communist allies withdrew support, could be buried.

ANI