On Friday, Shiv Sena, said it will boycott the no-confidence motion against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government in the Lok Sabha, after earlier having given their support.
Half an hour before the proceedings of the Lok Sabha began, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray stated his decision to his party’s 18 members of Parliament.
“Our party chief has decided we will not be present in the proceedings today,” Sena MP Chandrakant Khaire said.
“We have many things to say about the functioning of the government, but whatever we want to say we will convey at an appropriate time,” senior Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut added.
Earlier, on Thursday, it withdrew its whip to its lawmakers. It also criticised the ruling party for only using its allies in times of need.
“The no-confidence motion is not to dissolve the government, but to make it stand like an accused in a cage and peal its skin,” Sena said in the editorial, Saamana. It also listed out issues where the party had failed the common man interests.
“We became the fifth largest economy in the world. Okay, but the fifth largest economy has not rescued our farmers from the door of death,” it stated.
However, it acknowledged that since the party had an advantage of numbers, it would defeat the motion. “The victory which has question marks written over it should not be praised by the majority,” the party said. It called the NDA government’s mandate ‘suspicious’.
“They (BJP) have the required number to defeat the motion. What difference does it make if Sena votes in the favour of the government? Whether the Sena can abstain and continue to put pressure on the government is being debated,” the leader said on the condition of anonymity.
Earlier, the regional party had showed its support to the BJP after the no-confidence motion had been accepted in the Lok Sabha.
