Man Mohan Singh has history on his side

Deccan Chronicle - Indian Newspapers in English Language from Secunderabad


Singh has history on his side


Hyderabad, July 17: The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, will create history when he moves a motion of confidence in Lok Sabha next week. If he wins, it will the first-ever confidence motion won by a Congress-led coalition and if he loses, it will be the first time the grand old party has lost a confidence vote. No Congress ministry has ever lost a trust vote or got defeated by a no-confidence motion in the 55 years of the Lok Sabha. Successive Congress governments have faced 23 no-confidence motions and survived all of them. The Congress ministry led by Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao faced a confidence motion without commanding a majority on July 15, 1991. Still, it won. Not only that, Rao also survived three no-confidence motions.

As he nears the D-day, the Prime Minister can hark back to his predecessors to see their strategies. It was the National Front, BJP, and the United Front governments which had to quit after losing confidence motions. The first was Charan Singh, who tendered his resignation after the Congress withdrew support a few hours before the Lok Sabha met on August 20, 1979, to discuss a confidence motion. The House was informed about the resignation and adjourned sine die.

The BJP veteran, Mr A. B. Vajpayee, announced his resignation while replying to a debate on the confidence motion in the House on May 27, 1996, before voting took place. He also lost a confidence motion on April 17, 1999, by one vote (269 in favour, 270 against). Mr I.K. Gujral tendered resignation on November 28, 1997, after the Congress withdrew its support. Seeking a confidence vote from the House was almost an unknown concept till the Morarji Desai government fell and the newly-formed 76-member Janata (Secular) party led by Mr Charan Singh was invited to form the government by the then President, Dr N. Sanjeeva Reddy, on July 28, 1979.

For the first time, the President asked the ministry to prove its majority on the floor of the House. Accordingly, a session was called on August 20 and a motion expressing confidence in the council of Ministers was admitted. However, before the session began the Congress (I) led by Mrs Indira Gandhi announced withdrawal of its support to the Charan Singh Ministry. After getting to know of this, Mr Charan Singh resigned and was asked by the President to continue till further arrangements were made.