Shiv Sena to back Modi govt in no-confidence motion on Friday

The Shiv Sena, which has slammed its ally Bharatiya Janata Party on a number of issues, will vote in favour of the Narendra Modi government during the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

“We will support the BJP. A formal announcement may be made by this evening,” news agency PTI quoted an unnamed source close to party chief Uddhav Thackeray as saying.

The Sena had said earlier in the day that it will speak “when required” during the no-trust motion.

“In a democracy, the voice of the opposition should be heard first even if it consists of one person. Even we (Shiv Sena) will speak when it is required. During voting, whatever Uddhav Thackeray directs us, we will do,” senior Sena leader Sanjay Raut was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The party was earlier said to be miffed with the BJP top brass for not calling Thackeray ahead of the floor test to seek support. A senior Sena leader had said that the “attitude” of the BJP shows they do not need Sena’s support.

The motion has been slated for debate at 11am on Friday – the first since the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government came to power four years ago.

The Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were among the opposition parties that moved the motion on Wednesday, the first day of the Monsoon session. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Thursday allowed the motion to be taken up on Friday.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu had sought the support of other parties for the motion, citing NDA government’s “non-fulfilment of the promise” to grant special status to his state.

The ruling party is sure that the no-confidence motion moved against it will fail and parties outside the broader NDA will support the government as it faces the first floor test in Parliament in 15 years.

Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar said allies of the BJP, including the Shiv Sena, the Shiromani Akali Dal, Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and others would throw their weight behind his party, which on its own has 273 MPs, enough to dismiss the challenge.

“The NDA will be united in the vote against the motion. You will see that even parties outside the NDA will give support to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When voting takes place at 6pm on Friday, it will be NDA plus,” Kumar told the Hindustan Times.

Opposition leaders maintained that even if the no-confidence motion is based on the unfulfilled promise of special package for Andhra Pradesh after the creation of Telangana, a wider range of issues will come up during the debate.

Atrocities against people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the government’s inability to generate job jobs, communal tension, and the Kashmir situation, will all be discussed, according to them.