JOIN USThe Lok Sabha on Wednesday failed to take up the no-confidence motion against the Modi government following protests by AIADMK members even as the Opposition parties waited for Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to restore order.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar's allegations against the Congress for disrupting the Lok Sabha since March 5 triggered an angry response from Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
"You need not tell us about numbers. 80 members had stood up," Kharge told Kumar. The minister had hit out at the Congress for disrupting the Lok Sabha on Tuesday by carrying placards in the House, which he said was against the rules.
CPM member Mohammad Salim stood up on his seat briefly even as AIADMK members raised slogans in the Well of the House.
"Why should we run the House like this," the speaker said before adjourning the House for the day. She expressed her inability to count 50 members in their assigned seats who were supporting the no-confidence motions.
Leaders from six political parties had submitted 13 notices to move no-trust motions against the Modi government. Thota Narasimhan, Y V Subba Reddy, Konakalla Narayana Rao, Srinivas Kesineni, N K Premachandran Mohd Salim, P Karunakaran, P V Midhun Reddy, P K Kunhalikutty, Mallikarjun Kharge, M. Srinivasa Rao, Asaduddin Owaisi and Jayadev Galla had submitted notices.
The leaders have given fresh notices seeking to move a motion of no-confidence on April 2 when the Lok Sabha re-convenes after a four-day break.
Kumar hit out at the Congress for "hanging on to the coat-tails" of regional parties. "The Congress has lost its primacy and has become a marginal party," the minister said.
Both Houses of Parliament have failed to transact any substantive business for the 16th straight day since the second part of the Budget Session resumed on March 5.