Vajpayee wins vote, 274-261 George Iype in New Delhi The nine-day old Atal Bihari Vajpayee government won the crucialvote of confidence with a clear majority of 13 votes on Saturday. After two days of heated debate on the confidence motion movedby Prime Minister Vajpayee, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalitiongovernment emerged victorious in the numbers game, 274-261. After a voice vote was taken, the Opposition demanded a division. As the electronic voting machine was not used, Speaker G M C Balayogi ordered voting slips to be distributed to the members at 2000 hours. An agonising hour later, Vajpayee finally received the parliamentary sanction that had eluded him 22 months ago. The crucial support for the BJP came from the Telugu Desam Party,which instead of abstaining during the trust motion, finally decidedto support andvote for the Vajpayee government. Throughout the day in Parliament, the 11 TDP MPswaited patiently for an order from Andhra Pradesh Chief Ministerand TDP president Nara Chandrababu Naidu on the question of whetherthey should vote in favour of the government or abstain. Finally, Naidu, who maintained all week that the TDP would abstainfrom voting during the confidence motion, formalised his tie-upwith the BJP by deciding to endorse Vajpayee's tenure in power. The TDP leadership in Hyderabad faxed the party's resolution supporting the BJP governmentto its MPs in New Delhi by 1500 hours. Former Union minister and TDPMP Y Yerran Naidu then stood up in the House toannounce hisparty's support to the Vajapyee government. "Public sentiments during the election have been in favourof the formation of a BJP government. The BJP has also won a substantialvote share during the election," he said. The debate on Saturday, marked by occasional acrimonious exchanges,went on for eight hours. Replying to the two day debate in a speech that lacked the fire and the passion that marked his outgoing address on May 27, 1996, the prime minister denied that there was a hidden agenda between the BJP and its allies. "There is only one agenda," he said, "and that is the national agenda. The agenda is transparent and opento all. My government is committed to it." Vajpayee said theagenda had been prepared in consultation with all the BJP's allies and therefore all contentious issues hadnot been included in it. Certain issues had been left out by his government in its national agenda, he added, as it was committed to rule by consensus. The prime minister made it clear that there was no hidden agenda ofgovernance adopted by his government and there was no ''remotecontrol.'' Vajpayee said there were no attempts by anyone to run his government frombehind the scenes and said he was not a person who could beremote guided and controlled. ''No one can impose decisions on me and I don't like that too,''the prime minister said, while obliquely referring to allegations bymembers that the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh is the remote controlof the BJP-led government. The prime minister also refuted the charge that there are two centresof power in the new government -- Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Kishinchand Advani.He said attempts were being made to draw a wedge between Advani and him, but declared all such attempts would prove abortive. "As long as I am the prime minister and my government is there, theagenda will not be diluted,'' he categorically asserted. He had a dig at the Congress while countering that party's allegationthat his government was being ''remote controlled'' by the RSS.Without naming Sonia Gandhi, he observed that it is''good'' if the remote control is applied to them, and ''bad inour case." He made it clear that even though the BJP leadership has consultationswith the RSS, "the latter's decisions are not imposed on us." The prime minister said many members of the Janata Party too held the view that India must have an atom bomb for its security. But when the government was formed, the nuclear option was not included in its programme as some partners were againstit. He said the Janata Party government -- which he served as external affairs minister -- did not last long not because of its programmes but for some other reasons. Refuting the charges levelled by many members about the BJP'spost-poll alliance with many groups in order to form the government,Vajpayee said it had been done only when his party thought itwas in a position to form the government. "It is not a new thing," he said."The United Front government and the Janata Party government emerged in the same fashion." The prime minister said his government would continue to developfriendly relations with India's neighbours. When he had been leaderof the Opposition, Vajpayee said he had urged Pakistan to set aside thecontentious Kashmir issue for the time being and establish economicrelations between the two countries. Referring to a circular issued by a secretary in the governmentthat the BJP manifesto would be the guiding factor for the Vajpayeegovernment, the prime minister clarified it was ''unnecessaryand wrong.'' ''The concerned secretary too might have been misled in thinkingthat our manifesto is the guideline of the government as you (SharadPawar) have been misled,'' he added. The circular has been ''withdrawn,'' he said. The prime minister defended the decision to appoint acommission to review the Constitution. He said 50 years of the Constitution was a good occasion to have a critical look at it. Vajpayee said the Constitution and electoral rulesapproved the election of a candidate even if only a small percentageof voters, say 15 per cent, took part in the voting. "There arecountries like France which conducted elections in two turnsto ensure that more than 50 per cent of the voters took part in thepolling. But the two-turn election was costlier," he added. The prime minister referred to former Speaker Purno A Sangma's criticism on the lack of governmental commitment to spend money on education. "My government," Vajpayee promised, "will ensure that the promised six per cent of GDP will be really spent on education." Those who put forward spirited arguments from the Congress andthe United Front opposing the confidence motion included LalooPrasad Yadav, P Shiv Shankar, S Jaipal Reddy, Chandra Shekhar,T R Baalu and Sangma. Calling Vajpayee "a great political engineer" and "agreat political mathematician" in the best speech of the day,Sangma saidthe Vajpayee government's national agenda is an "Utopian document." With the Vajpayee government winning the confidence vote, four monthsof political instability seems to have ended. But many believe the real acid test for the prime minister hasjust begun -- his main task will be to manage a disparate groupof 18 regional and smaller parties. The BJP's biggest regional partner is J Jayalalitha's 18-member AIADMK,followed by the 12-member Samata Party and the 12-member TDP. BJP leaders said on Saturday that the prime minister will expandhis Cabinet in the second week of April. The TDP, which is nownegotiatingthree Cabinet berths with the BJP, is expected to join the Vajpayeegovernment. The government's immediate assignment will be to present a reform-friendlyBudget in June. Despite Vajpayee winning the trust vote, doubts remain about the longevity of the BJP-led government. According to Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy, who did not vote on Saturday despite being a BJP ally, "the Vajpayee government will have noproblems with allies like us. We now feel the BJP government will have to fearthe RSS more than us in the coming days. Additional reportage: UNI
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