Telangana row: Cong MPs give notice for no confidence motion

In more problems for Congress on Telangana issue, six party MPs from Seemandhra region today gave notice for moving a no-confidence motion against the Manmohan Singh government.

The members -- R Sambasiva Rao, Sabbam Hari, V Arun Kumar, A Saiprathap, L Rajagopal and G V Harshakumar, have written to Speaker Meira Kumar on the issue.

In the letter, they sought permission to move a motion expressing no-confidence in the Union Council of Ministers under Rule 198 of the Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha. The plan of the MPs appears to be to embarrass the government on the Telangana issue by seeking support of those opposed to the division of Andhra Pradesh or creation of smaller states. Any move to bring a no-confidence motion requires the support of some 50 odd members, ten per cent of the membership of the House.

The 15th Lok Sabha has not seen any no-confidence motion. A plan by Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress to bring it over a year back came a cropper as it failed to find the requisite support. Trinamool has 19 members in Lok Sabha.
The MPs from Seemandhra, as well as those from the TDP, have been protesting the division of Andhra Pradesh in the House, with several of them moving into the Well today. Large-scale protests have engulfed the region in Andhra Pradesh, with a bandh call given by several parties including TDP and YSR Congress after the Union Cabinet approved the draft state reorganisation bill last week, based on the recommendations of a Group of Ministers.