BJP refuses support to no-confidence motion but keeps attacking UPA

BJP fresh from the victory in 4 states is no mood to pull down the UPA Govt right now and is concentrating on capitalizing the recent electoral victories and increasing the momentum being built around Modi to challenge Congress in the next general election. Obviously, BJP sees a lot more needs to be done to bring in new allies and strategize for the Modi surge, especially in the South. At present, they are unwilling to instead divert their attention onto a no-confidence motion being served for a regional issue like Telangana, especially after unconditionally supporting it. BJP is doing everything it can to push UPA into a corner on further expose it’s several corruption scandals to demoralize and decimate it before the elections arrive. The Parliament session is their opportunity to do this and they are strategizing for it.

Yashwant Sinha, former finance minister and member of the BJP’s parliamentary party said: “The senior leaders of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) have contacted the senior leaders of the BJP to ask for support on the no-confidence motion. Since the BJP has already taken a stand that it wants creation of a separate state of Telangana, we cannot support any move which supports a united Andhra Pradesh. We have considered the demand of TDP in the party.” The BJP held a meeting of its parliamentary party on Tuesday morning to discuss the political situation in the country and its strategy in the current session of Parliament.

“I think the BJP is not mentally prepared to topple the Congress-led government yet and the party is not prepared for election. It seems the BJP leaders give a signal that the party is not opposed to division of Andhra Pradesh and creation of smaller states,” said Parakala Prabhakar, a Hyderabad-based political analyst.

At the same time, the BJP launched a direct attack against the government over the JPC report on the irregularities in the sale of 2G permits. The party alleged that the “substance” of the dissent notes had been altered in the final report that was tabled providing a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Deputy leader of BJP Ravishankar Prasad, who was a member of the 30-member JPC, raised a point of order to allege that his dissent note had been altered and wondered whether the matter should not be debated in the House. Quoting a rule from Article 105 of the Constitution, he said that he had the right to administer a note of dissent as a member of the panel. “I had given a strong dissent note…the guilty have been left (out)…the report should not be tabled,” Prasad said.

Strongly backing his colleague on the issue, leader of the opposition Arun Jaitley said: “Substance of the dissent note given by members of the House has been altered by the chairman. Please give us a ruling, whether it is permissible.” The chair, however, allowed laying of the report saying a discussion on the issue cannot be allowed. Sinha also said the BJP leadership is actively considering a no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar. The BJP leaders are annoyed that Kumar didn’t allow a debate on the JPC.