Manmohan took no chances
Despite the support of Ms Mayawati’s BSP and the SP’s clear indication that it would walk out, the government was in no mood to take chances in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. Sources said that on Thursday Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is also the Leader of the Rajya Sabha, had personally called up many of the 10 nominated members of the House to consolidate support.
Both Mr Kamal Nath and Mr Shukla worked the last 24 hours to keep the Congress flock together. Except Sachin Tendulkar, who is playing the Test against England at Eden Gardens, all 11 nominated members were present in the House and voted with the government. NCP member Janardhan Waghmare and Congress member N. Janardhan Reddy voted from the lobby as they were unwell. The division of votes was marred by technical glitches because of which the exercise had to be done twice. Third-time voting was done on paper ballots after complaints from some members that their votes were not registered. The first round took place even without Chairman Hamid Ansari calling for a division, a fact pointed out by BJP member and former RS deputy chairperson Najma Heptullah, who could not cast her vote through the system on both occasions due to a snag. The AIADMK, Left and Trinamul Congress described the government’s triumph as “victory by manoeuvring”. They claimed the “sense of the House was against FDI in retail”.
Earlier, the House had to be briefly adjourned when Mr Sharma said JD(U) member N.K. Singh, having chaired a panel on FDI during the NDA government, had recommended FDI in multi-brand retail.
The House had to be adjourned when Mr Jaitley and Mr M. Venkaiah Naidu protested while Mr Singh got up to make an interjection. However, Mr Sharma did not yield to the request of the Opposition benches, leading to an uproar. Even the TMC and Left parties’ members were seen showing solidarity with the JD(U) member.
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