(LiveMint)
Battle lines have been drawn between opposition parties and the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on the eve of monsoon session of Parliament with 12 opposition parties deciding to move a no-confidence motion against the government. The decision was announced even as Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Rajya Sabha chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu separately met leaders of all political parties on Tuesday in an attempt to ensure smooth functioning of the two Houses of Parliament. Naidu urged the ruling and opposition parties to stop blaming each other for disruptions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also appealed to all political parties to cooperate with the government to ensure the smooth functioning of Parliament. “Political leaders of 12 parties had met on Monday and we agreed to bring a vote of no-confidence and we will also demand the special status for Andhra Pradesh. We will try to mobilize support as much as possible,” Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, told reporters on Tuesday.
To make things more difficult for the government, opposition leaders of eight political parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), have written to Mahajan asking her to tell the “Leader of the Houses to put a full stop to subversion of Rules and the Constitution.”
