Now that the Left parties have announced they will meet President Pratibha Patil [Images] on Wednesday and submit a letter withdrawing their support to the United Progressive Alliance government, what is the next step?

The President will then have to call upon the prime minister to prove his majority on the floor of the Lok Sabha, since the UPA was asked to form the government in May 2004 on the basis of the Left's letter promising parliamentary support to it.

The only question is, how much time should the President give the government to prove its majority?

There is no clear-cut direction to the President on this, but it is expected to be within a reasonable time.

What is reasonable, is a subjective choice but it is usually a fortnight.

In the present instance, the President may not convene a special session of Parliament since the monsoon session of Parliament is due towards the end of this month, which will mean a fortnight's time for the government to prove its majority.

The President usually gives a specific date within which the government will be told to prove its majority.

In such an instance, there is no need for the Opposition to move a no-trust motion in the Lok Sabha; the government is duty-bound to prove its majority before it moves ahead with any other business.

To go back a little in time, on April 14, 1999, when J Jayalalithaa told then President K R Narayanan that her All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was withdrawing the support of its 18 MPs to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, the President gave the prime minister time till April 29 to prove his majority, despite Parliament being in session. However, just three days later, on April 17, the National Democratic Alliance government was voted out by one vote.