LS Speaker Om Birla admits no-confidence motion against govt
New Delhi (PTI): Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday admitted a no-confidence motion moved by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi against the Narendra Modi government after a head count of over 50 MPs as required under the rules.
He said the time of the debate will be fixed by him and conveyed to the House.
After the House met at 12 noon and papers were laid on the table, the Speaker said he has received a notice from Gogoi for moving a motion of no-confidence against the government.
He asked members supporting the admission of the motion to stand after which INDIA alliance members, including Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, stood up for a head count. Birla then admitted the motion expressing want of confidence in the Union Council of Ministers.
Birla said a date and time for discussion on it will be fixed by him after consultation with all parties.
The alliance of 26 opposition parties, INDIA, had decided to move the motion in order to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak in Parliament on the Manipur violence, senior leaders of the front said.
Although the no-confidence motion by opposition parties is bound to fail the numbers test, opposition parties argue that they will win the battle of perception by cornering the government on the Manipur issue during the debate.
They contend that it is also a strategy to make the prime minister speak in Parliament on the crucial matter even as the government has been insisting that Union Home Minister Amit Shah will reply to the debate on the Manipur situation.
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5 schoolchildren among 7 killed in blast in southwest Pakistan
Islamabad (PTI): At least seven people, including five schoolchildren and a policeman, were killed on Friday in a remote-controlled blast in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, according to media reports.
The blast occurred at 8.35 am near a school at the Civil Hospital Chowk of the Mastung district of the province, Dawn newspaper reported.
“It appears that an IED (improvised explosive device) attached to a motorcycle was detonated near a police mobile,” Kalat Division Commissioner Naeem Bazai was quoted as saying in the report.
“So far, seven individuals have been killed, including five school students,” Bazai said. At least 22 people were injured in the attack.
Most of those injured were schoolchildren, Geo News reported, adding that they were shifted to a nearby hospital.
A police van and several auto-rickshaws were damaged in the explosion, according to the report.
An emergency was declared across all Quetta hospitals after the blast, the report said quoting the provincial health department spokesperson, adding that all doctors, pharmacists, staff nurses and other medical staff were summoned.
