Intensity of defeat exposes UPA government's vulnerability

Rahul Gandhi has received a rude reminder that a two-third majority in the Lok Sabha is against his first political endeavour, reports Sheela Bhatt.

The United Progressive Alliance government was defeated on the floor of the Lok Sabha on Tuesday night when it tried to pass the 116th Constitution Amendment Bill.

The UPA could not even muster 273 votes, a simple majority in the House.

Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, whose dream of according a Constitutional status for the Lokpal has been dashed by the defeat, is flying to Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. He is sure to target the Bharatiya Janata Party for not allowing a stronger Lokpal by defeating the Constitutional Amendment Bill.

Tuesday was a mixed day for the UPA government. It passed the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill -- however weak, however 'sarkari' and however controversial in the assessment of the bill's critics.

By doing so, the UPA and the Congress party, which is the dominant political party in the ruling alliance, has at least ended its isolation on the issue, Congress leaders believe.

The Congress and UPA has something to show off when Team Anna -- the group advising Kisan Baburao 'Anna' Hazare -- raises its voice against the government and Congress party.

On the debit side, the defeat of the Constitutional Amendment Bill is a major embarrassment for the Congress and UPA because the numbers were much lower than expected for the ruling alliance.

"The low number of votes shows how our government is delicately poised," an MP from the Nationalist Congress Party, a constitutent of the UPA, said. Not the actual defeat, but the numbers shamed the UPA government.

Three clauses of the Constitutional Amendment Bill failed to muster the required majority of the House, so the bill to make the Lokpal a Constitutional entity could not be brought.

Clause one received 250 votes for and 180 against; clause two, 247 votes in favour and 178 against it, while on clause three the government got 251 votes in favour and 179 against it.

The numbers -- 250, 247, 251 -- were far lower than required.

The government needed a two-third majority in the House and it is necessary that at least 50 percent of the members of the current Lok Sabha be present in the House when it votes on Constitutional amendments.

On Tuesday night, more than 50 percent members were present, but two-thirds of these members did not vote in favour of the motion moved by the UPA.

A Trinmool Congress party MP, also a constituent of the UPA, said, "It seems even the UPA was not present in full strength. Some members of our party, some from the NCP and some from the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) were absent. Also, Farooq Abdullah was not seen when the voting took place. I don't know if his was by design or it so happened.

Minister Kapil Sibal, who opened the debate on the Lokpal for the UPA government on Tuesday afternoon, blamed the BJP for defeating the bill, saying, "It proves that the BJP does not want strong a Constitutional body for Lokpal and they don't want Lokayuktas in the states to have Constitutional status."

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Leader of the House, was visibly agitated seeing the numbers that proclaimed the bill moved by the government was defeated.

"This is a sad day for Parliament," Mukherjee said, telling BJP MPs that the people "will teach you a lesson."

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi patted Mukherjee on the back with one hand while thumping the bench with the other as the finance minister tore into the BJP.

Some senior Congressmen said the entire controversy between Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and Kapil Sibal on Articles 252 and 253 was unnecessary.

The Constitutional Amendment Bill accords Constitutional status to the Lokpal and Lokayuktas, and it is more worrying that some chief ministers are raising the issue of federalism in the Bill.

Regional leaders were against according a Constitutional status to the Lokayuktas, which would make them vulnerable in their respective states. The BJP's central leadership was also under tremendous pressure from its state leaders to defeat the Constitutional Amendment Bill to prevent the status to be granted to Lokayuktas in the states.

Intriguingly, many MPs from the UPA's allies remained absent during the vote.

Surely, the Congress and UPA was aware that it did not have a two-third majority in the Lok Sabha, but when MPs from the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and other regional parties walked out of the House, things moved from bad to worse for the ruling coalition.

The intensity of defeat has exposed the UPA's vulnerability. With two UPA members -- the DMK's former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja and Suresh Kalmadi, the Congress MP from Pune -- in Tihar jail and a few absentees, the government wobbled.

The Congress party will now target the BJP for not allowing the UPA government to get a stronger Lokpal, and when the bill goes to the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, it will ensure that it will chide the Left parties for siding with the BJP.

Meanwhile, Hazare's fast in Mumbai has not got the expected response, and that has made Congressmen jubilant. It is a bigger victory for them than the setback in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday night.

The weakening of Hazare's movement will help Congressmen sell the Lokpal Bill as the "beginning" that could not be made these last four decades by Parliament.

Surely, Rahul Gandhi has received a setback because he has been rudely reminded that a two-third majority in the Lok Sabha is against his first political endeavour.

He will try his best to make a virtue out of his government's debacle. The BJP will have only the short term satisfaction of defeating the government for moving a bill that was likely to be defeated anyway.