PM, Sonia slip up on ayes and nos

NEW DELHI, DEC 2: It was a day of goof-ups for both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha today. Both trip...

NEW DELHI, DEC 2: It was a day of goof-ups for both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha today. Both tripped when they had to vote on an amendment moved to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Bill.

If Sonia Gandhi had to ask for a second slip on which she had to indicate "aye" or "no" after she committed some mistake in the first one, A B Vajpayee fared worse. He actually filled up the green side of the slip which meant that he was voting against his own government.

The voting was on an amendment moved to the Bill by CPI(M) member Rupchand Pal through which he sought to have the House refer the proposed legislation to a select committee. Vajpayee, like his colleagues on the treasury benches had to say "no," but ended up saying "aye," much to the amusement of Home Minister L K Advani, Human Resource Development Minister M M Joshi and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha who were sitting in the front row.

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Looking rather sheepish when he realised that he hadcommitted a faux pas, he smote his forehead, asked for a second slip and corrected himself.

For Sonia it was obviously the first such occasion when she had to cast her vote on a division in the House. And her ever-eager colleagues were there to tutor her.

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