No Confidence motion against PM Modi government rejected in Lok Sabha

The no-confidence motion against the PM Modi government has been rejected in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The no-confidence motion was defeated by more than 2/3rd majority of the House as 126 members voted for the motion while 325 voted against it.

The total strength of the Lok Sabha was 534, before being reduced to 515 as 19 BJD MPs staged a walkout, pulling down the halfway mark from 268 to 258.

After the no-confidence motion was defeated in the Parliament, TDP President and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleged that PM Modi didn't speak on Andhra Pradesh's development and was unjust towards the state.

"Prime Minister didn’t speak on Andhra Pradesh’s development. He displayed the same negligence. I have never seen such an irresponsible central government before. By seeing this unjust attitude of BJP, it seems like Congress government was better. BJP doubted our patriotism. This is not tolerable," said the Andhra Pradesh CM.

"Why is there negligence over 5 crore people of Andhra Pradesh. The centre is showing negligence because we don’t have numbers," he added. 

No Confidence Motion | 'Today, Games Are Being Played To Destabilise A Stable Country', Says PM Modi In His Lok Sabha Speech

Prior to the voice vote, PM Modi in his speech appealed to the MPs to scrap the motion. PM also said through the motion the "negative face of politics is out". The PM also dubbed the 'floor test' as 'forced test'. He also said:

"This is not a test for the Government, but for the Opposition," adding, "they want to snatch my chair."

The PM Modi tore apart the Congress President's '15 minute dare' saying, "I am standing also, and I have stuck to my promises too". He also attacked Rahul Gandhi's 'Rafale lie' and his childish act during his address in the Lok Sabha. The PM further attacked the Congress for demoralising the forces and slamming the 'surgical strike' against Pakistan.

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The Prime Minister also took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi's 'look me in the eye' jibe and his 'wink'.

Prior to this, the BJP moved a privilege motion against Rahul Gandhi for his alleged false allegations against the government.

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During his almost 45 minutes long speech, Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack at the BJP and PM Modi on various fronts like Rafale deal, woes of farmers, special status to Andhra Pradesh, soaring fuel prices among other.

In his speech, Rahul Gandhi alleged Nirmala Sitharaman had lied to the nation that there is an agreement signed between the Indian government and the French government over the non-disclosure of the prices of the jet planes.

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Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena and the TRS abstained from casting their votes in the Parliament. The TRS was earlier undecided on their vote as TDP MP Suman said:

"We will demand the unfulfilled promises of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act to be fulfilled. These impact the new state of Telangana. We are yet to decide on whether to vote or not. All will depend on the reply by PM."

On the other hand, the Shiv Sena also decided to stay away from the entire legislative process. The decision was taken in the Shiv Sena Parliamentary party meeting  Leaders like Anil Desai, Arvind Sawant, Anant Geete and other MPs are present in the meeting.

The BJD also staged a walkout from the Parliament.

On the first day of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament, Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan accepted the TDP's no-confidence motion against the Centre over the Andhra Pradesh special status row.

The Narendra Modi-led Government face its first no-confidence motion, four years after winning the 2014 mandate as the first single-party majority in three decades.

The NDA last faced the no-confidence motion under the leadership of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003. The Vajpayee-led Government had defeated the motion with an overwhelming majority.