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Trinamool MPs to submit support withdrawal letter to President on Friday

Kolkata, Sep 20: With the Centre not in a mood to yield to her demands for withdrawing the decisions on diesel, LPG cylinders and FDI, Trinamool Congress Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee

PTI PTI Updated on: September 20, 2012 21:45 IST
trinamool mps to submit support withdrawal letter to
trinamool mps to submit support withdrawal letter to president on friday

Kolkata, Sep 20: With the Centre not in a mood to yield to her demands for withdrawing the decisions on diesel, LPG cylinders and FDI, Trinamool Congress Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said in Kolkata that her party's six ministers will submit their resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.





“We have already taken a collective decision. Our ministers will submit their resignation. Commitment is commitment. We have also sought an appointment with the honourable President tomorrow, if he gives time,” she said in an apparent reference to plans to give a letter of withdrawal of support of 19 MPs to the government.

Trinamool has six ministers, including one of Cabinet rank, in the UPA government.

Banerjee said there is no room for negotiations on the issue of FDI in retail and ruled out going to Delhi for any talks with the Congress leadership.

After Trinamool's withdrawal of support, the UPA government's support in Lok Sabha will come down from 273 to 254 and the coalition will be heavily dependent on Samajwadi Party (22) and BSP (21) for its majority in the House.

For a simple majority, government needs the support of at least 273 MPs in a House of 545.

Constitutional experts are unanimous that the question of President asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek a vote of confidence will arise only after Trinamool Congress formally hands over to the President a letter of withdrawal of her party's support to the UPA government. 

Legal experts say the President is not bound to act at this stage as   Banerjee is yet to withdraw her support and it has not been established that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has lost majority support. 

The President, on receipt of a letter withdrawing her support, will independently assess and satisfy himself whether the Trinamool's action would materially reduce the government to a minority.

Only if the President finds that it has been reduced to a minority would he ask the Prime Minister to seek a vote of confidence. 

For this, he can advise the Prime Minister to convene a special session of Parliament. 

A senior advocate Raju Ramachandran said, it would be premature for the President to act now. 

"First, he must get the formal letter from her. When the withdrawal of support is established and if the President is satisfied that the government is reduced to a minority, he will be obliged to call upon the Prime Minister to prove his majority", says  Ramachandran. 

Says advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan: " The President will not step in unless he is prima facie convinced that the withdrawal of support by one party has resulted in the government losing its majority. As Parliament is not in session now, the President can ask the Prime Minister to convene a special session if he has a doubt that the Prime Minister does not enjoy majority. "

When the Congress withdrew support to the Deve Gowda government on March 30, 1997, President Shankar Dayal Sharma initially gave  Gowda seven days' time to prove his majority. Subsequently, the President granted him four more days to face the confidence vote, recalls an oldtimer.
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