New Delhi: Day ahead of the crucial no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ananth Kumar took a dig at the Congress saying ‘Sonia ji’s maths is weak.’
Kumar’s statement came a day after there were reports where the UPA Chairperson was quoted as saying that ‘who says we don’t have numbers.’
When reporters asked Kumar about Gandhi’s statement, the Union Minister quipped, ‘Sonia ji’s maths is weak. They had calculated similarly in 1996. We know what happened then. Their calculation is wrong yet again. Modi government has majority both inside and outside Parliament. NDA will vote against no-confidence motion. NDA+ will also support us.’
The Monsoon Session of Parliament will witness the no-trust vote on Friday after a gap of 15 years. Last time in 2003, no-confidence motion was moved by Sonia Gandhi against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led BJP government. The motion was defeated by a mile.
During the last Budget session, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had refused to admit the motions moved by the Congress, Telugu Desam Party and Sharad Pawar’s NCP, leading to repeated pandemonium, making it the least productive session since 2000, so much so that the Rajya Sabha spent just three minutes on government Bills and the Lok Sabha conceded 14 minutes for the legislative business — primary task of the Parliament.
The government sources here said they didn’t wanted to repeat the washout as they were looking to seek passage of at least 25 Bills in 18 sittings of the current session — which could be the last or second-last full session ahead of the 2019 General Elections. Currently, there are 68 Bills pending in the Parliament.
Congress is looking to corner the government on the issues of mob lynching, woman safety, “misrule” in Jammu and Kashmir, dilution of Dalit atrocity law, attempts to abolish reservation in autonomous institutions and issues of farmers, unemployment and poor investments.