Cut motion on Finance Bill

The 13 parties, including Janata Dal (Secular), Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Rashtriya Lok Dal and the leftists, on Monday decided to move a cut motion on budget proposals for hike in the excise and custom duties on petrol and diesel and reduction in fertiliser and food subsidies.

They also resolved to call for a nation-wide shutdown on April 27 next to protest against the UPA government’s failure to bring down the spiralling prices of essential commodities.

A cut motion by the 13 parties could put the UPA in trouble as the ruling coalition just has wafer-thin majority in the LS after it lost “outside support” of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad over the Women’s Reservation Bill. The BJP too is likely to move a cut motion after the budget session of the Parliament resumes on Thursday. The cut motion, if adopted, will mean end of the 11-month-old UPA-II government.

The Congress, however, put up a brave front and claimed that the ruling coalition enjoyed the support of enough MPs in the LS to counter any bid to topple the government.
But the party  also sought to question the rationale of the leftists and other secular parties like the SP and RJD joining the anti-Congress agenda of the BJP.  Highly-placed Congress sources said the party did not see much of a threat in the Third Front’s move.