Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s ruing Biju Janata Dal (BJD) will support the bill replacing the Delhi services ordinance and oppose the no-confidence motion proposed by various opposition parties against the Union government.
This was stated by the party’s Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra on Tuesday. The decision of BJD, headed by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, will help the Modi government at the Centre move closer to the halfway mark in Rajya Sabha, where the BJP-led NDA does not have full majority on its own.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has nine MPs in Rajya Sabha.
Patra was quoted by PTI saying that his party has decided to support the bill on the Delhi services issue and it will also oppose the no-confidence motion.
The bill seeks to replace the ordinance brought by the Centre in May which excluded ‘services’ from the legislative competence of the Delhi legislative assembly. The ordinance was brought days after the Supreme Court judgement on the control of services in Delhi.
While officially claiming to have maintained equidistance from both BJP and Congress, the regional party has been supporting the Narendra Modi dispensation at the Centre in almost all issues since 2019. The BJD had lent its support to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019 (Reorganisation Bill) and bills proposing changes to the UAPA and the RTI Acts and criminalising triple talaq. The BJD also nominated Ashwini Vaishnav, to the Rajya Sabha, on the request of Prime Minister and the Home Minister.
Around 109 MPs comprising those from the 26-member opposition bloc INDIA and some Independents such as Kapil Sibal are expected to vote against the bill, a senior leader said.
However, this will still be short of the halfway mark of 120 if all 238 existing members vote that day. The full strength of the House is 243 but there are some vacancies.
Of the 26 parties from the opposition grouping, at least 18 have a presence in Rajya Sabha and have 101 MPs collectively. Besides this bloc, the BRS (seven MPs) is also likely to vote against the bill while the YSR Congress (nine MPs) may back it.
The ruling NDA has 100 MPs in the Upper House while it will bank on nominated members and Independents, as well as other non-aligned parties that have voted with them in the past on various issues.
