The notice is to come up when the Budget Session of Parliament resumes on March 9.
Opinion is already divided within Opposition ranks over the matter, with some voices calling for a less aggressive approach than the one the Congress is pushing. Significantly, the Trinamool Congress did not sign on to the Opposition notice.
A section believes that the Opposition has proved its point by ensuring that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not come to Parliament for his reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks, a payback for the many times Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi could not speak due to disruptions or had large chunks of his speeches expunged. This section also sees little point in antagonising the Speaker when the no-confidence motion is set to be defeated, and Birla is expected to be in the Chair for the next three years.
However, another section insists that only a debate on the no-confidence motion against Birla would clearly establish “the partisan functioning of the House” under him as Speaker.
A senior Congress leader said they would not shy away from any tool in the parliamentary democracy to highlight “how the Opposition voice is muzzled”. “Moving a no-confidence motion against the Speaker is an unusual and rare step. However, only a proper discussion, without the Speaker in the Chair, will bring out what we have been complaining about.”
An Opposition leader said any move would be collective. “The decision on a no-confidence resolution against the Speaker was taken at a meeting of all the 26 Opposition parties involved. We discussed this for two days. The Congress could have just given a notice with signatures of its MPs – you need only two (in case of the Speaker). But the party collected 118 signatures. So any decision on the future of the notice from our side will also be taken at a meeting or in consultation with all the parties… The same forum will be used to decide the next step too.”
The Treasury Benches, for their part, sense a golden opportunity to draw another wedge in the Opposition ranks. Confirming that the BJP was reaching out to smaller parties and individual MPs in the INDIA bloc, a BJP source said a “showdown” in the House is just what the government wants. “It will be an opportunity to single out the Congress.”
The government has been telling the smaller parties that the motion “is entirely a Congress agenda”, said sources, adding that many Opposition MPs have “informally conveyed” that they are not keen on pursuing the no-confidence motion.
An editorial by Congress ally Shiv Sena (UBT)’s mouthpiece Saamana Wednesday, raising questions over Congress leadership of the INDIA bloc, is being quoted by government sources as an example of this rift.
The Congress leader quoted above, however, said they are not worried about their colleagues. “If anyone in the Opposition opts out, it’s going to harm them politically as most of the Opposition parties are fighting against the BJP in states.” In all the states where the poll countdown has started, these parties are pitted against the BJP – the Trinamool Congress against the BJP in West Bengal, the DMK against the AIADMK-BJP in Tamil Nadu, and the Samajwadi Party against the BJP when Uttar Pradesh votes in 2027.
On February 10, the Opposition had submitted a notice with signatures of 118 MPs for a no-confidence motion against Birla, after the Speaker did not let Gandhi quote from or speak about former Indian Army Chief General M M Naravane’s unpublished memoir. Birla also claimed that he cautioned PM Modi not to come to the House as may be attacked there. Amid disruptions, Birla suspended eight Opposition MPs from the House.
After the Lok Sabha Secretariat admitted the notice for a no-confidence motion against him in the first half of the Budget Session, Birla kept away from chairing the Session, leaving the same to a panel of chairpersons till the matter was resolved.
If the motion is taken up, the House will have a discussion on it. If the Opposition does not want to move ahead, it can withdraw the notice when the matter comes up in the House on March 9.
According to the Rules and Procedures of the Lok Sabha, the member in whose name the motion stands in the list of business (on March 9) will either move the motion or give a statement withdrawing it.
In case the MP wants to move the motion, the presiding office will seek the House’s permission for the same. At least 50 MPs should rise to support the motion. The Chair will then declare that the motion would be taken up on a day that is not later than 10 days from the date when the motion is moved.
A discussion will then be held on the scheduled date, on the charges mentioned in the notice, followed by voting.