No-confidence motion: "Who says we don't have the numbers?" Sonia Gandhi told NDTV.
Highlights
- "Who says we don't have the numbers?" Sonia Gandhi said
- Government has enough numbers to sail through the no-confidence motion
- BJP says it has enough and more lawmakers on its side
Sonia Gandhi's math is weak, the ruling BJP sneered on Thursday, a day after the Congress leader, responding to questions on the no-confidence motion, said: "Who says we don't have the numbers?"
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has enough numbers to sail through the no-confidence motion to be taken up tomorrow. Sonia Gandhi's comment, therefore, surprised many and raised speculation that the opposition has a trick up its sleeve.
Union Minister Ananth Kumar shrugged off the comment.
"Sonia ji's maths is weak. They had calculated similarly in 1996. We know what happened then. Their calculation is wrong yet again. The Modi government has a majority both inside and outside Parliament...You will see support for us from all directions," said the minister.
He was presumably referring to Sonia Gandhi's statement in 1999 - "We have 272 and more are coming"- which turned out to be a miscalculation as her party could not form government after the fall of the BJP-led Atal Bihari Vajpayee government by one vote.
No-confidence motion: Union Minister Ananth Kumar shrugged off Sonia Gandhi's comment.
The BJP is confident that it has enough and more lawmakers on its side - including the Shiv Sena, which has been its most difficult and nagging ally in the past few years.
The BJP says it has enough and more lawmakers on its side - including the Shiv Sena, which has been its most difficult and nagging ally in the past few years.
The ruling party calculates it has 312 members in the 535-member Lok Sabha including 274 of the BJP. It needs 268 to clear the test.
Sena says it will do what its chief Uddhav Thackeray decides. This morning, sources suggested that fence sitters like the AIADMK and Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal may abstain.