On the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan accepted the no-confidence motion moved by opposition parties, including Congress, NCP and TDP on Wednesday.
Congress members Mallikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal, and NCP’s Tariq Anwar moved the motion over mob lynching and atrocities against Dalits, TDP MPs Kesineni Srinivas and Thota Narasimhan moved the no-confidence motion over the Centre refusing to grant special category status to Andhra.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar asked Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to accept the no-confidence motion submitted by the Opposition, adding, “We have full faith that we will be able to stand it.”
While accepting the motion, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said time will be allowed for the debate within the next ten days over the no-confidence motion.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged political parties to utilise maximum time available in Parliament's monsoon session and said the government is ready to debate on any issue in the house.
"Welcome everyone to the monsoon session of Parliament. Lots of issues have to be discussed. I expect all the political parties to cooperate and let the session function smoothly," Modi told reporters in the Parliament complex.
"The government is ready for discussion on all issues," he said.
He also urged all political parties to make most use of time in monsoon session and asked them to set an example for the state assemblies.
Earlier on Wednesday morning, Andhra Chief Minister and TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu had a teleconference with all his MPs and told them to coordinate with non-BJP, non-Congress parties.
Among the parties that have offered to support the no-confidence motion of the TDP against the Modi government is RJD. Three TDP leaders had on Tuesday met RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his wife and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi at their residence in Patna.
This is the second attempt by the TDP after a similar move in March this year.
During the Budget Session in March, TDP and YSRCP had both moved a no-confidence motion against the BJP-led government. However, repeated protests and commotion by the AIADMK in the Floor of the House over the Cauvery issue prevented the motion from being taken up in Parliament.
The TDP had pulled out of the NDA in March over its demand for a special category status for Andhra Pradesh.
In the current 535-member Lok Sabha, the Congress has 49 MPs, TDP has 16, NCP has 7 while the RJD has four. The strength of the House is, however, reduced to 530 following the resignation of 5 YSRCP MPs. They had submitted their resignations on April 6 -the last day of the budget session – to protest against the refusal of the Central government to accord Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh. In June, Sumitra Mahajan accepted the resignations of five Lok Sabha MPs of the YSRCP.
(IANS inputs)