Jul 09 2008
PM will meet President on Thursday: Will govt. survive?
After the Left parties have withdrawn support to the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government President Pratibha Patil has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to meet her on Thursday.
BJP demanded that the government be asked to prove its majority within a week and in wake of these political crises, Singh who is in Japan for the G-8 summit is asked by Patil to meet her. He will be back past midnight.
Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh and its Parliamentary party leader Ramgopal Yadav also met the President and gave a fresh letter of support of 39 of its MPs to the government.
Earlier in the day, top leaders of CPM, CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP met President Pratibha Patil at Rashtrapati Bhavan and submitted a list of 60 Members of Parliament and handed over separate letters withdrawing their support to the government. They also submitted a joint communication asking her to “direct the Prime Minister to seek a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha immediately”.
Lok Sabha has a total of 543 members. SP, PDP and some independents are supporting the government and UPA hopes to get 272 votes for a simple majority in the Lok Sabha.
Ajit Singh-led RLD, JD(S) headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Mamta Bannerjee’s Trinamul Congress and TRS come in the “undecided” category but have given enough hints of backing the government in a trust vote.
There are clouds of worries in the Indian political ring. There is a curiosity among all regarding government’s survival? Now there are uncertainties whether the government will able to prove a vote of confidence within a week and will retain its power or will it fall??
