Confidence motion: Numbers not an issue, support is

Party sources were quoted as saying that the NC leadership was unhappy with Congress president Sonia Gandhi for shutting out NC chief Omar Abdullah from a meeting of Opposition leaders called to plan floor-strategy against the government. The NC had earlier walked out of the NDA.

Sources in the NDA disclosed that Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes would lead the coalition counter-attack tomorrow. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will speak on Tuesday. The strategy is designed to prevent the Opposition from hogging media attention on both days.

A meeting of NDA leaders at the residence of Advani finalised the names of NDA speakers keeping in mind their specific targets. The meeting was attended by Defence Minister George Fernandes, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Law Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP parliamentary party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee would be fielded to put the heat on Left parties by highlighting the ‘‘reign of terror let loose in West Bengal.’’

Telugu Desam leader Yerran Naidu would be utilised for running down the Congress while Textiles Minister Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP) would attack Congress policies towards minorities. Malhotra would also figure among the speakers.

DMK president M Karunanidhi, who was unhappy over the BJP flirtation with the rival AIADMK, decided to stand by the NDA for two obvious reasons. One, the NDA was going to win anyway, even if the 11-member DMK decided to vote against Vajpayee.

There was a second reason: if he were to dissociate himself from the Central Government, he could end up rendering himself more vulnerable to the actions of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. He, therefore, declared at Tiruchirapalli that his party was part of the NDA and would vote for the government.

Karunanidhi was quoted as saying that he was not being childish about possible AIADMK support to the Government.

He said he would oppose the government if it brings forward legislations for the construction of a Ram temple and ban on cow slaughter.

Karunanidhi made it clear that despite the ‘‘misuse’’ of POTA or ESMA by the Jalyalalithaa government against its political opponents, his party disfavoured use of Article 356 for her dismissal. He said he would fight the issue legally and would not solicit the help of NDA or the BJP.