No-confidence motion: A deja vu of sorts

New Delhi, July 19: The no-confidence motion to be held in the Lok Sabha on Friday comes at a very interesting juncture. It also would remind many of what happened in 2003 when the Congress introduced a no-confidence motion against the then Attal Bihari Vajpayee government.

That year assembly elections were due in Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. This year with the exception of Delhi, elections are due in the three other states. The BJP won in all the states except Delhi that year.

The other interesting point about Friday's no-confidence motion is that it comes at a time when elections to the post of deputy chairman, Rajya Sabha are due. It also comes at a time when the BJP failed to form a government in Karnataka after it lost out to the Congress-JD(S) combine.

The Rajya Sabha elections would be a keenly watched event. It would signal if the opposition would be able to overcome all its ideological differences and elected its candidate. This would be a pre-cursor to how the joint opposition would function in 2019.

Similarly the no-confidence vote would also be a test for the opposition in terms of the numbers it would be able to generate. More importantly it would be interesting to see if the BJD and AIADMK back the opposition, abstain or vote against the motion. The BJD has 20 MPs while the AIADMK has 37.

Overall it would be an interesting day on Friday. Although the result if a foregone conclusion in favour of the BJP, Sonia Gandhi decided to make it interesting with her, " who says we don't have the numbers,' comment. For the BJP it would be more of an exercise to showcase its government and counter the narrative set by the opposition. Stay tuned to OneIndia for all the updates LIVE.