New Delhi - India's Congress party-led government won a
parliamentary confidence vote on Tuesday that was seen as crucial to
the fate of a civilian nuclear deal with the United States.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition won the vote 275-256,
with 10 abstentions, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee announced, hours
after adjourning a two-day long debate amid allegations of vote-
buying.
The votes the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) eventually gained
were more than the 271 needed to prove majority in the 545-member
house where two seats are vacant and a member is barred from voting.
The trust vote was called after the UPA's communist partners
withdrew their support in protest at the nuclear accord, which they
say would impinge on India's strategic sovereignty.
Jubilation broke out at Congress party headquarters as the result
was announced. The emphatic 19-vote margin of victory now paves the
way for the implementation of the landmark nuclear deal.
The government recorded a comfortable majority with the support
from the regional Samajwadi Party and other smaller parties that
offset the loss of 59 left-wing MPs in the UPA.
Crucial to the UPA victory was the fact that ten lawmakers, most
of them from the opposition National Democratic Alliance, abstained
from voting.
A defeat for the UPA would have led to early elections by November
in the country that faces slower economic growth and double-digit
inflation. It would have also spelt the death of the nuclear deal.
Tuesday's vote came hours after claims of corruption triggered a
tumult in parliament. Lawmakers from the opposition Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) flashed wads of currency in the house, alleging they were
bribed to abstain from the vote.
Opposition leader LK Advani said the UPA had tried to bribe three
BJP lawmakers by offering them 30 million rupees (700,000 dollars)
each to abstain.
Describing it as a 'very sad day in the history of parliament',
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee promised a thorough probe into the
allegations. 'I can assure you that no one who is guilty will be
spared,' he added.
But the UPA leaders rubbished the BJP claims, saying it was a
'stunt' aimed at disrupting the proceedings since the opposition had
realized the government would sail through the trust vote.
'(The money) was planted by the opposition members who knew that
they would be defeated on the floor of the house,' Ashwini Kumar, a
Congress spokesman, said.
Shortly after the UPA victory, Singh declared that the convincing
win would ensure that India would take its place in the comity of
nations with the implementation of the nuclear deal.
'This vote shows that India is prepared to take its rightful place
in the comity of nations,' the prime minister told reporters after
emerging from the Parliament House.
The nuclear agreement would allow the US to trade fissile
materials and technology with India, ending a three-decade ban. India
would in turn, open its civilian nuclear reactors to international
inspections.
Both BJP and the left oppose the deal saying it would impact
India's strategic independence with the US calling the shots and
could prevent India from carrying out further tests of nuclear
devices.
India has to reach a country-specific safeguards agreement with
the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) before the deal is
ratified by the US Congress. A meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors
to discuss a draft agreement has been scheduled for August 1.
The 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which controls the
global trade in fissile materials, would also be required to change
its rules as well before the deal could be implemented.
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