by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Big Win for Amit Shah in Lok Sabha
BSP, BJP, YSR Congress, TRS, TDP supported
NCP, TMC, JD (U) walked out
J&K, Ladakh now Uts after Parliament's nod
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Aug. 6
The BJP achieved another feather in its cap in Lok Sabha when it obtained the support of 85% of MPs on the historic bills relating to Jammu & Kashmir.
As many as 370 MPs out of 440 MPs present in the House voted for the bills surpassing the strength of the NDA despite the fact that 16-member strong JD (U) walked out of the House.
The strength of the Lok Sabha is 542. But only 440 were present today for the voting with 102 absent.
But parties after parties lent their support to the J&K Bills including YSR Congress (22) after its leader Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy met the PM at 5 pm. The Bahujan Samaj Party (10), Biju Janata Dal (12), TDP (3), TRS (9), JD-S (1), AAP (1) and Independents (4) overwhelmingly supported the Bill. Navneet Rana, Maharashtra's Independent MP made forceful speech supporting the bill despite being elected with the support of the NCP. Its a different matter that NCP walked out after Supriya Sule made a speech which supported the bill and opposed it too. The party found it difficult to support the bill after walking out in the Rajya Sabha.
If the BJP obtained two-third majority in Rajya Sabha despite having only 78 MPs only, it mustered the support of 401 MPs out of 542 MPs in the Lok Sabha. This was a feather in the cap of the BJP leadership which virtually forced the hands of the non-NDA parties to lent support.
Barring the Congress, DMK, SP and the Left and a couple of Muslim parties, none was against the dilution of Article 370, abolishion of Article 35A and bifurcation of the State of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh and making them union territories.
The TMC (22) also decided to stay away from voting.
Interestingly, senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted in support of the Bills causing huge anxiety amongst the party leaders about his future course of action.
Prime Minister Modi had set the 100-Day deadline before every Cabinet Minister to implement the BJP's manifesto. The J&K Bill is perhaps the last of major tasks except for the construction of the Ram Temple which is before the Supreme Court where day-to-day hearing has begun.
Ends
