Amit Shah dials Uddhav Thackeray ahead of trust vote, seeks Shiv Sena's support

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Thursday spoke to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray ahead of the trust vote in Lok Sabha. The BJP chief called Thackeray seeking Shiv Sena's support in the voting that is due to take place in Lok Sabha on Friday.

While Amit Shah said that Uddhav has assured him support, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said the party has a lot of issues which it will raise during the discussion on Friday. "Wait for 24 hours to know our stand. Let there be a discussion in the House on Friday. Our party will also raise our concerns on the floor of the House. The government should listen to the statements made by Opposition parties, it is needed in a democracy," Raut said.

The Narendra Modi led Central government seems to be in a comfortable spot in the numbers game. The effective strength of Lok Sabha has been reduced to 533 with two more seats falling vacant after Speaker Sumitra Mahajan accepted BJD MP Baijayant Jay Panda's resignation and Jose K Mani of Kerala Congress (M) was nominated to Rajya Sabha. With ten seats lying vacant, the majority mark in the house stands at 266.

The BJP has 274 seats and Shiv Sena has 18 seats in the lower house. The NDA has a collective strength of 314 members in the house.

The Lok Sabha will debate and vote on the no-confidence motion against the Modi government on Friday - the first since the BJP-led NDA came to power four years ago.

United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson and senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has claimed that the no-confidence motion will be accepted with a voice vote, but the government has brushed aside the possibility. 

Claiming that they have the required numbers, Union Minister Ananth Kumar said, "Sonia ji's maths is weak. They had calculated similarly in 1996. We know what happened then. Their calculation is wrong yet again. Modi government has the majority both inside and outside Parliament. NDA will vote against No Confidence Motion. NDA+ will also support us."

The no-trust motion in Parliament was moved and accepted by Speaker Mahajan for the first time in 15 years. Mahajan said she had received notices from at least six MPs seeking no trust vote against the Narendra Modi government and was duty-bound to put it to the consideration of the House.

Members from the Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), and the National Congress Party (NCP) among others moved no-confidence motion notices but the Speaker said that TDP's Kesineni Srinivas would move his motion as his party was the first to raise it.