Didi reaches out to BJP on no-trust vote

A day after making her intention to move a no-confidence motion against the UPA government clear, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday reached out to the BJP and called up Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj for support.

This was revealed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. “Banerjee has approached Sushma Swaraj (for support),” Joshi said in Kolkata. “Swaraj has gone to Mumbai for Bal Thackeray’s funeral and after she returns to Delhi we will sit and discuss the issue... The NDA will meet tomorrow or day after and take a decision,” Joshi added.

Joshi, however, added a caveat on the no-confidence motion proposal. “If the numbers are not adequate and the motion fails, the government becomes safe for the next six months within which another such motion cannot be brought... Again, if the motion is passed and the government falls, you have to think of the next course of action,” he said.

The UPA, meanwhile, slammed the opponents of FDI policy and asserted that there would be no going back on it. “It is a decision cast in stone and the government is ready to face any challenge in Parliament,” said Commerce Minister Anand Sharma on Sunday. He said the government was more than prepared for any challenge on it in Parliament. Minister of State in PMO, V Narayanasamy, said the Congress-led UPA was ready to reply to any issue the Opposition raises in the winter session of Parliament.