TMC asks Congress to appeal to Speaker before no-confidence motion

Trinamool Congress has advised Congress to submit an appeal to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and wait 2-3 days before moving a no-confidence motion. Congress, with support from SP and DMK, is ready to move the motion against the Speaker.

Trinamool Congress has asked Congress to submit an appeal before the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla before giving a no-confidence motion against him, Abhishek Banerjee said on Tuesday. Congress MPs have signed a no-confidence motion against Speaker Om Birla and are likely to move the motion today. TMC said that the party will sign on the no-confidence motion if the Speaker does not act on the Opposition's appeal within two to three days.

TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee told reporters, "Even yesterday we made it clear that all the TMC MPs will sign the no-confidence motion resolution, but our suggestion to them was that the issues, including suspension of MPs, LoP not being allowed to speak, women MPs being falsely accused and that the Chair is working in a biased manner. We said that firstly, we should write a letter in the form of a protest to the Speaker and the signatures of all opposition MPs should be there, and we should give the Speaker two-to-three days' time. If the Speaker does not take any action on it, then we always have the room to move a no-confidence motion; we have no problem."

Congress Firms Stance on Motion

"Yesterday, the House was adjourned at 2 pm for the entire day. The House could have been adjourned for 1-2 hours, but it was adjourned till the next day. The Speaker did not come to the Chair today. If you really want to run the House, it should be reflected in your actions, not just your words. TMC MPs want the House to function, but the Speaker has to run the House. If a BJP MP is allowed to speak, the MPs from the Opposition should also be allowed to speak," the TMC leader added. The no-confidence motion has the support of the Samajwadi Party and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Sources said that the party has clarified that it has enough MPs to submit a no-confidence motion notice. Even if one or two parties do not support it, Congress intends to move the motion within the constitutional timeframe.

Background to the No-Confidence Motion

This comes in the backdrop of the Opposition alleging that the Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to speak in the House during the discussion on the motion of Thanks to the President's Address. Gandhi cited General MM Naravane's unpublished memoir to discuss the 2020 standoff against China. The Speaker passed a ruling, asking Gandhi not cite unpublished literature.

Allegations of Bias and Targeting

Speaker Om Birla also said on Thursday that he had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to come to the House to prevent any unpleasant incident, after receiving information that some Congress MPs could come to the PM's seat and "resort to an unprecedented incident". However, Women MPs from the Congress on Monday wrote a letter to Speaker Om Birla alleging that the ruling party forced him to make "false, baseless, and defamatory" claims against them. The MPs said their protests in the House were peaceful and in line with parliamentary norms, but they faced unprecedented targeting. In the letter, the MPs highlighted that during the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, was repeatedly denied the opportunity to speak over four consecutive days, while a BJP MP was allowed to make "vulgar and obscene" remarks about former Prime Ministers.

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