Time is racing out for UPA on trust vote

Very rarely, smaller party leaders are seen to be the most desirable weapon to kill the enemy (here opposition parties) so as to protect the government. This generally happens in two cases: either at the time of formation of the government or to save the existing government from its probable fall.

Today, the latter circumstance has once again showed the priceless value of a single vote and felt the Parliamentarian votaries-not in the government-that their votes worth more than other MPs in the government.

•   E-mail Article
•   Printer Friendly
•   Text-Size    

With just four days to go before the trust vote in parliament, it is still not clear whose pan of the beam-balance is weighty enough. There is hardly difference of three or four votes in the balance of power between Congress-le UPA government and the oppositions.

MPs from smaller parties and Independents are bestowed to play the role of kingmakers and every possible effort is being made by both pro and opposition blocks of the Indo-US nuclear deal, say government and the oppositions including Left, to woo these small party voters in securing their support. And, to secure their support, Congress and Opposition are ready to pay the price, whatever the MPs demand.

While few leaders have opened their cards, some others yet have held cards strongly to their chest waiting for augmenting price of their votes. They know well with the passage of time their already invaluable votes will be getting costlier. In fact, some of these leaders of small parties have no ethics, no principles and have no moral values. Politics is like an industry for them with the sole aim of earning profit. That's why irrespective of ideology or issue of fetching Motion of Confidence, they are weighing their votes against bundle of currency or other innumerable benefits; a trend, which has been from the very beginning, is nothing but a shame.

For many of these Legislators, the stakes are mountainous high. Another reason, which is putting pressure on some of them to extract as much as they can, is some MPS are going to loose their constituency under the new Delimitation Act. So, with the new Lok Sabha elections, they might loose their chance of getting Parliament's seat for the next time. The profit-hungry politicians, thus, has got the golden chance to augment their treasury, while for others, the party or political formation will decide their long-term political future, particularly once the elections are over.

Coming next to the number game, Congress-led UPA and Oppositions seem almost equal with the difference of three or four votes. However, no one can deny the significance of a single vote, which could decide the fate of the government. Think just a case of Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, if he does not resign, whose vote would be decisive in case of equality of votes.

At present calculations, the UPA stands at 258, which is still 14 short of the majority mark. There are 20 MPS, who have not disclosed their cards yet. Their support or abstain from the House on July 22 could only help the government resulting into its survival. Out of these 20 MPs, five from Shibu Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), a breakaway party of Janata Dal, and three from Ajit Singh's led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) will definitely play the decisive role in the fall or survival of the government. If these two parties nod for their support to the government, the other smaller parties and Independents' support would be easy to take.

JMM supremo has ladoo (sweets) in both hands. On one hand, he is being offered chief ministerial post by the BJP, while on the other hand Congress is offering him a portfolio in the Cabinet- his favourite coal ministry. Time has changed a lot since 1993, when the Narsimha Rao led Congress government had successfully bought seven JMM legislators in millions of rupees at the time the government was facing no-confidence motion. Today, Shibu Soren's worth has reached in crores.

While it was US, which has been repeatedly saying “time is running out” on the nuclear deal, it is now for UPA government to settle on for which time is seriously “racing out” to wooing the Legislators to save the government.