Turn signal: TMC walks out,Samajwadi sits in support

SP Chief Whip Shailendra Kumar withdrew his amendments to the President’s address and pledged his party’s support to the government,citing an assurance by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that states would be consulted on the NCTC.

The opposition,including the BJP,JD(U),BJD,Left parties,Shiv Sena and Akali Dal,closed ranks against the government. Left members supported the amendment moved by Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj,and the BJP voted for amendments moved by the CPM’s Basudeb Acharia and CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta. Both sides also backed an amendment moved by the BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab.

Swaraj’s amendment received 141 votes against 226 polled by the ruling coalition. Acharya’s got 146 in favour and 227 against; Dasgupta’s received support from 144 MPs and was negatived by 227. Mahtab’s registered a count of 145 in favour and 227 against.

Despite the impending vote,a large number of members from both sides were absent. They included former prime minister H D Deve Gowda,RJD leader Lalu Prasad,SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav,BJP deputy leader Gopinath Munde and his party colleagues Ananth Kumar and Varun Gandhi,the Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal,and the JD(U)’s Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi was seen asking Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to counter Swaraj as she offered to withdraw her amendment if the Prime Minister gave an assurance that the government wouldn’t press for the NCTC without the states’ consent.

But Mukherjee failed to catch the eye of Speaker Meira Kumar,who was focussed on the voting process.

Soon after,there was a flutter as Swaraj demanded a division. Trinamool member Kalyan Banerjee came running in,went straight towards his party colleagues,and gestured to them to follow him outside. He looked around for Dinesh Trivedi,who was seated among ministers,and gestured to him too. Trivedi promptly joined his party MPs in walking out.

The uproar from the opposition benches demanding how a minister could walk out was overtaken by the voting process.

Earlier,Trivedi,who had finally resigned last evening hours before his party chief Mamata Banerjee landed in New Delhi from Kolkata,entered the house just before the PM rose to wrap up the discussion on the Motion of Thanks. He first sat in a back row,but later moved to his seat in the middle.

The PM announced Trivedi’s exit. “I received late last night an email message followed by a formal letter from Dinesh Trivedi tendering his resignation as railway minister,” the PM said. “I regret the departure… A new railway minister will be sworn in shortly.”

He added that Trivedi had “presented a railway budget that had promised to carry out the Vision 2020 outlined by his predecessor” — none other than Mamata Banerjee herself.

The PM went on to say that the decisions “we have to take are made more difficult by the fact that we are a coalition government”. “We need to have consensus,” he said.

The PM described the establishment of the NCTC as “an important step to give security to all the citizens of the country,” but “adequate and full consultations will take place before the next step”.