UPA's Survival On 22nd July? And Aftermath

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Amid dinner engagements, UPA and NDA optimistic</b>

Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI: A day before the debate on the trust vote, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) camps on Sunday resorted to dinner diplomacy to shore up numbers on their sides.
Luncheon engagement

The Left parties, the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which will vote against the government, however, stayed away from the dinners hosted by the NDA and UPA groupings. Instead, they had a luncheon engagement of their own.
Focus of attack

While the UPA hosted the dinner at a five-star hotel, the NDA gathered its flock at the Parliament House Annexe. Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra expressed confidence that the government would be defeated in the trust vote, but said the focus of attack during the debate in the Lok Sabha would be on the “four years of misrule.”

Later in the evening, senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said it would be a “win-win” situation for the NDA whether the government was defeated or not and claimed the debate would leave a “permanent scar on the face of the Congress.”

On the other hand, the UPA’s political managers exuded confidence of having the numbers to sail through the test.

At both dinners, the attention grabbers were defectors from either side. While the UPA dinner saw Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh escorting long-time BJP parliamentarian Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, the NDA banquet had dissident Haryana Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi in attendance.

The UPA dinner also saw the attendance of MPs of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and party chief Shibu Soren and former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran.

Although invitations had gone out to Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) and Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal, both leaders have decided to cast their lot with the Opposition and did not attend the dinner.
Admits to defection

Mr. Malhotra admitted to the defection of the Balrampur MP but said members not present at the Parliamentary party meeting had either submitted applications or were on their way to the National Capital.

He said the former Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, told members that the government should have resigned on moral grounds the day the Left parties withdrew support.
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“The only difference between our stand and that of the Left is that they are opposed to any pact with the U.S. while we feel the only flaw in the India-U.S. nuclear deal is that we won’t be able to conduct another nuclear test,” he said.</b>

The NDA would train its fire on price rise, internal security and “vote-bank politics” of the government, he said.