CPI-M not to back Trinamool's no-confidence motion

Virtually rejecting Trinamool Congress' appeal to support a no-confidence motion to be brought by it, Communist Party of India-Marxist said such a move would only help the government cover up all its "wrong" policies.

"A no-confidence motion (in Lok Sabha) will only help the government cover up all wrong measures it has taken and claim parliamentary mandate, as it has the numbers to defeat such a motion," CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat said in New Delhi.

He said the Left leaders would talk to the Opposition parties urging them not to move such a motion but go in for some other steps to arraign the government on a whole range of issues.

"I hope the Opposition will come to an understanding to put the government in the dock," Karat said.

In the same vein, his senior party colleague Sitaram Yechury said, "If the no-confidence motion is moved, we would want it to be carried. Otherwise, the government will take it as an endorsement of all its anti-people policies for the rest of its tenure. We don't want to give such a certificate to the government."

Noting that a no-confidence motion would "not be issue specific", he said the Left-sponsored motion entailing voting, to oppose FDI in multi-brand retail, would be "a much better strategy to defeat the government's move."

He said many parties like Samajwadi Party, which had participated in the nationwide strike in September to protest

FDI in retail, would support such a motion and not a no- confidence vote. "(SP chief) Mulayam Singh Yadav had himself courted arrest during that protest."

Yechury said the Communist Party of India-Marxist and other Left parties would decide their stand on the basis of the "real situation in Parliament ... whether they (Trinamool) are able to muster a majority (on no-confidence). Otherwise, it will be helping the government and providing an escape route to it.

"The track record of Trinamool Congress shows that they say one thing but do something else. So, we will have to wait and see," he said.

Last week, CPI, CPI-M, RSP and Forward Bloc had jointly decided to move motions under voting rules in both Houses of Parliament to reject the government's decision on the matter.

Rule 184 of Lok Sabha's Rules of Business and Rule 167 in Rajya Sabha entail voting after discussion on a matter.

Claiming that a no-confidence motion has "no purpose", Karat said CPI-M will talk to all opposition parties, including BJP, on the issue.

"In next 48 hours, things will come clear on no-confidence motion...whether there will be enough MPs to move the motion...Some of the bigger parties in the Opposition are not in favour of any such (move).

"...Such a motion is not the right tactic. We ourselves do not have any problems in moving such a motion but it is not the right thing to do now...Why should we help government win a vote of confidence. Mamata Banerjee might be thinking this is the right (move) but we don't (think so)," he said.

Reasoning why a vote on FDI is a better option than a no-confidence motion, he said other than Congress, NCP and National Conference, all other parties are opposed to it.

Karat said his party has already spoken to Janata Dal-United chief and NDA Convenor Sharad Yadav. CPI-M Parliamentary Party leaders will talk to BJP leaders, he added.

Asked whether the party will talk to Trinamool Congress, the CPI-M leader expressed hope that Mamata Banerjee's party will listen to the opposition voice and realise that her option was not the best.

Karat said the Winter Session of Parliament will turn "stormy" if the government does not allow the motion on FDI in retail be put to vote.

Rejecting Commerce Minister Anand Sharma's assertion that executive decisions like FDI in retail could not be discussed in Parliament, Karat cited a 2001 incident in Parliament when Roopchand Pal moved a motion against disinvestment of BALCO and NDA allowing vote on it.

"He (Sharma) is good in commerce but bad in history...I am afraid it is going to be stormy if the government takes the line of Anand Sharma that no executive decision can be voted in Parliament," he said, adding in 2001, the motion was defeated.

Claiming that allowing FDI in multi-brand retail was foremost in UPA's agenda for the past eight years, he said the Left parties would like to make it one of the key issues to be discussed and voted upon in Parliament.

"Pranab Mukherjee had earlier assured Parliament that it will be kept till there is wider consultation. Now it (government) has gone ahead despite an overwhelming number of parties opposed to it. It should be put to Parliament," he said.

Asked whether his party was wary of an early elections, he said elections will come and go and all, including Congress, were getting prepared.