07-19-2008, 07:18 PM
<b>Political pitch in India reaches crescendo ahead of trust vote</b>
* PM Singh calls Janata Dal (Secular) chief Deve Gowda to seek support of party's three votes
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: Political activities in India hit the crescendo on Friday with all parties busy engineering defections to muster support for and against the crucial trust vote the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government seeks in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The political activities would spur up further on Saturday when Bahujan Samaj Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati arrives for a discussion with Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu, amid speculation that she may be persuaded to lead the third force of UNPA that became headless after Mulayam Singh Yadav shifted his Samajwadi Party's allegiance to the Congress.
On a day when the Congress ultimately secured five votes of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) with its chief<b> 'Guruji' Shibu Soren finally ditching BJP's offers and opting to back the UPA government, both Congress and BJP were engaged in an intense seizing of each other's MPs even while at least 16 MPs that included independents and those belonging to smaller parties were still sitting on the fence.</b>
<b>
Singh support: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is personally busy mustering support. So far he was ringing up leaders of the UPA to discuss the preparedness for the confidence vote but on Friday he called up Janata Dal (Secular) chief and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda to seek support of his party's three votes. Deve Gowda complained that he was never consulted on the nuclear deal and declared to make public his party's stance after he meets the prime minister here on Saturday.</b>
Congress President Sonia Gandhi too spoke to DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran, who is nursing his personal hurt from his party chief M Karunanidhi getting him out of the Union Ministry and is widely reported to abstain from voting. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar was still working on the Shiv Sena to explore the possibility of its 12 MPs remaining absent or abstaining from voting.
<b>
A day after Harish Nagpal, a Congress-backed independent MP from Uttar Pradesh, walked into the BJP, the Congress claimed to have secured support of two suspended BJP MPs of Gujarat -- rebel Somabhai Patel and fake passport racketeer Babubhai Katara -- to vote for the government.</b> Only two days ago, the BJP had revoked suspension of another MP Dr Vallabhbhai Kathiria, who was suspended with Somabhai for campaigning against Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the November assembly elections, to stop him from crossing over to the Congress. <b>The BJP was working on defection of three Congress MPs of Karnataka -- RL Jalappa, Ambareesh and Tajeshwiri while Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was reported to have bagged at least three MPs of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad to join his Janata Dal(U).</b>
Meanwhile, sick and ailing MPs are being airlifted in desperate measures by party managers. Film star-turned-MP Dharmendra of the BJP is also being reportedly rushed from Los Angeles where he was shooting for a film so that he is in time for the July 22 trust vote sought by the UPA government in the Lok Sabha.
* PM Singh calls Janata Dal (Secular) chief Deve Gowda to seek support of party's three votes
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: Political activities in India hit the crescendo on Friday with all parties busy engineering defections to muster support for and against the crucial trust vote the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government seeks in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The political activities would spur up further on Saturday when Bahujan Samaj Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati arrives for a discussion with Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu, amid speculation that she may be persuaded to lead the third force of UNPA that became headless after Mulayam Singh Yadav shifted his Samajwadi Party's allegiance to the Congress.
On a day when the Congress ultimately secured five votes of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) with its chief<b> 'Guruji' Shibu Soren finally ditching BJP's offers and opting to back the UPA government, both Congress and BJP were engaged in an intense seizing of each other's MPs even while at least 16 MPs that included independents and those belonging to smaller parties were still sitting on the fence.</b>
<b>
Singh support: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is personally busy mustering support. So far he was ringing up leaders of the UPA to discuss the preparedness for the confidence vote but on Friday he called up Janata Dal (Secular) chief and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda to seek support of his party's three votes. Deve Gowda complained that he was never consulted on the nuclear deal and declared to make public his party's stance after he meets the prime minister here on Saturday.</b>
Congress President Sonia Gandhi too spoke to DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran, who is nursing his personal hurt from his party chief M Karunanidhi getting him out of the Union Ministry and is widely reported to abstain from voting. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar was still working on the Shiv Sena to explore the possibility of its 12 MPs remaining absent or abstaining from voting.
<b>
A day after Harish Nagpal, a Congress-backed independent MP from Uttar Pradesh, walked into the BJP, the Congress claimed to have secured support of two suspended BJP MPs of Gujarat -- rebel Somabhai Patel and fake passport racketeer Babubhai Katara -- to vote for the government.</b> Only two days ago, the BJP had revoked suspension of another MP Dr Vallabhbhai Kathiria, who was suspended with Somabhai for campaigning against Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the November assembly elections, to stop him from crossing over to the Congress. <b>The BJP was working on defection of three Congress MPs of Karnataka -- RL Jalappa, Ambareesh and Tajeshwiri while Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was reported to have bagged at least three MPs of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad to join his Janata Dal(U).</b>
Meanwhile, sick and ailing MPs are being airlifted in desperate measures by party managers. Film star-turned-MP Dharmendra of the BJP is also being reportedly rushed from Los Angeles where he was shooting for a film so that he is in time for the July 22 trust vote sought by the UPA government in the Lok Sabha.