Here is why the ‘No confidence motion’ of TDP against the NDA government will be dead on arrival

It seems that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and President of Telugu Desam Party, Chandrababu Naidu is still not happy even after moving out from NDA alliance over the issue of special status to Andhra Pradesh. In his recent move, he has decided to move No Confidence Motion against the National Democratic Alliance government at the centre in the upcoming monsoon session of the parliament. According to the reports, he directed the MPs of his party to gather support of all other parties except the Congress.

However, this whole exercise is going to be a futile one and Naidu also knows it very well. NDA has the required strength to beat any such motion. By definition no confidence means that “a person(s) in a position of responsibility is no longer deemed fit to hold that position.” In the current scenario, it would mean that the parliament no longer has confidence in the incumbent government. The constitution of India does not have any specific mention of the term No Confidence Motion. However, Article 75 of the constitution specifies that the council of ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House of the People. This implies that the majority of Lok Sabha members must be with the Prime Minister and his cabinet. Additionally, Article 118 of the Indian constitution allows each house of the Parliament to make its own rules for the conduct of its functioning. Rule 198 of the Lok Sabha mentions the whole procedure for a motion of no-confidence. Any member of the house is allowed to submit a written notice before 10 AM. The speaker will read the motion of no-confidence and the speaker will ask those who are in favor of it. In case if the 50 members of the house favors the motion then the speaker allots a date for discussing the motion. If after the debate and the eventual vote, the majority of members vote in favour of the motion then the motion is passed and the incumbent government has to vacate the office.

As of now, the TDP does not have the mandatory strength of 50 members in Lok Sabha it has only 16 Members in the Lok Sabha. Secondly, As of July 2018 the strength of NDA in Lok Sabha is 314 which is much more than the required number of 282. The BJP alone have 274 Members (2 nominated and 1 speaker). It would be no less than a miracle if Chandra Babu Naidu could manage the majority of the members of the Lok Sabha to vote in favour of the motion of no-confidence motion. As of now, Chandra Babu Naidu does not even have the strength of 50 MPs required for a discussion on the motion on the floor of the house.

So, what could be the reason behind Naidu’s futile No Confidence Motion exercise? One possible reason is that by countering the BJP at the national level, he is trying to project himself as the Rambo in his state in order to solidify the anti-BJP votes (predominantly Muslim) in Andhra Pradesh. Very recently, he boasted that his party constructed Haj houses in Hyderabad, Vijayawada & Kadapa and has constructed Mosques across the state and also worked towards promoting Urdu language.

It looks like Chandrababu Naidu wants to emerge as the perfect competitor to Mamata Banerjee and this whole exercise of no-confidence motion is nothing but just a poll plank to consolidate Muslim votes of the state.