New Delhi: Opposition parties claim they can corner the government on the Manipur issue during the debate and win the fight of perception, despite their proposed no-confidence resolution failing the numbers test.
They say it's part of a plan to force the prime minister to address Parliament about Manipur, where the government has insisted up to now that only the Union home minister will respond to a debate on the matter.
With less than 150 members in the Lower House, the opposition group is outnumbered and the outcome of the no-confidence motion is already sealed.
After the opposition coalition has made a final decision, sources say they plan to file a notice of "no confidence" in the Modi government on Wednesday.
When that notification is actually read aloud in the House, however, is at the discretion of the Speaker.
Opposition leaders have stated that the INDIA alliance will use the no-confidence resolution to force the government to answer questions in Parliament and put the spotlight on Manipur, an issue the administration has so far avoided.
Congress MPs have been requested to attend to the headquarters of the Congress Parliamentary Party after the opposition meeting at 10 am on Wednesday to complete their plans on moving the motion.
A three-line whip has been issued to all Congress party Lok Sabha members to ensure their presence.
A leader of the Congress has said that a no-confidence motion is the only option to force the prime minister to address the Manipur issue in Parliament, and the party has stayed silent on the matter.
Using the no-confidence vote to "target the government on the Manipur issue" is a "good idea" in the "game of perception," the leader said.
However, the sources warned that the opposition might not get much airtime during the Lok Sabha discussion, as time is distributed proportionally to the number of seats each party holds.
The sources also note that the "no confidence motion" on Manipur would receive national attention, which will likely aid the opposition in the perception game.
They claimed that after a notice of no confidence is moved, it must be listed in the business of the day and that as many as 50 Lok Sabha MPs must back it for it to be discussed in the House.
To a question at a party briefing on whether the opposition will submit a 'no confidence resolution' against the government over the Manipur issue, Congress senior spokesperson Manish Tewari said that under the Parliamentary system and tradition, all alternatives are open.
All of the permissible choices under the rules are on the table in front of the adversary, he added.
"In a Parliamentary democracy, all instrumentalities which are available in the rules and procedures of the Lok Sabha remain open to the opposition," he said.
Because of the sensitivity of the situation in the border state and the depravity that Manipur has unfortunately witnessed over the past 78–80 days, we have been insistent that the prime minister address both houses of Parliament on the question of Manipur, as we have pointed out over the past few days.
For this reason, Tewari said, "under those circumstances, we are steadfast in our demand," adding, "as I pointed out, in a democracy all instrumentalities which are available under the parliamentary rules always remain open."—Inputs from Agencies