New Delhi, Aug 19: The Congress-sponsored no confidence motion against the Vajpayee government was defeated late tonight by 312 votes against 186 after Opposition leader Sonia Gandhi said the government failed to give a satisfactory reply to any of the issues raised against it.
Before the division in which there were no abstensions, the motion was defeated by voice vote.

In a brief reply, Sonia said that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other members of the government had remained silent on most of the issues raised by the opposition as they did not have any clear answers to its charges.
Earlier, Vajpayee strongly defended Defence Minister George Fernandes and said that he had helped in boosting the morale of the armed forces after his re-induction in the cabinet.

Bureau Report