Wednesday, July 09, 2008

PM to meet President

NEW DELHI: Barely an hour after the NDA constituents led by BJP demanded that the government be asked to prove its majority within a week, President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday asked Prime Minister to meet her on Thursday.

A Rashtrapati Bhavan communique issued on Wednesday night, hours after the four Left parties submitted letters snapping ties with the UPA government, said "keeping in mind these political developments, President has requested the Prime Minister to meet her tomorrow to have his views."

Singh returns from Japan after the G-8 summit well past midnight.

The leaders of the four Left parties submitted a list of 60 MPs and a joint letter signed by leaders of - CPM, CPI, RSP and Forward Block - to seek a vote confidence in the Lok Sabha immediately.

The communique also said that Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh and its Parliamentary party leader Ramgopal Yadav also met the President and gave a fresh letter of support of 39 of its MPs to the government.

With the Left parties formally withdrawing support to the UPA government which is bracing itself for a confidence vote, the game of numbers on Wednesday acquired greater intensity.

A war of words erupted with the Left leaders accusing the government and the Congress leadership of "disregarding" the majority voice in Parliament on the "notorious" nuclear deal and "always looking up to the US".

Hitting back, the Congress said during the course of a series of meetings with the UPA the Left never objected to government not giving to it the full text of the draft agreement with the IAEA.

With the support of SP, PDP and some Independents, the government hopes to garner 272 for a simple majority in the Lok Sabha which has an effective strength of 543.

Ajit Singh-led RLD, JD(S) headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Mamta Bannerjee's Trinamul Congress and TRS come in the "undecided" category but have given enough hints of backing the government in a trust vote.

Meanwhile, turning down the Left's demand of making public the draft of safeguards agreement with IAEA, Congress had said "confidential" nuclear information cannot be divulged at the height of international terrorism.

"At a time when international terrorism is at a height documents containing clauses of confidentiality cannot be divulged," Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari told reporters.

Congress' reaction came as a response to a demand from the Left parties to make public the text of the draft safeguards agreement which is to be finalised with the IAEA.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/PM_to_meet_President_tomorrow/articleshow/3215671.cms

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