Cut motion against government defeated, SP, RJD MPs stay away

NEW DELHI: The UPA government defeated the cut motion by a massive margin on Tuesday.

246 MPs voted against the cut motion and 162 voted in favour with SP and RJD MPs abstaining from voting.

As soon as the Lok Sabha reconvened, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav declared he would vote in favour of the cut motion, soon after both RJD an SP MPs walked along with Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh.

The Lok Sabha had adjourned earlier as opposition leaders protested against rising prices. Leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj also lashed out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for making a statement outside the house on a JPC probe on the phone tapping and IPL.

50 BJP MPs had tabled a breach of privilege notice in Lok Sabha against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for announcing outside Parliament his decision to reject setting up of a joint parliamentary committee on the issue of alleged phone tapping.

The prime minister had on Monday night told reporters on the sidelines of the defence investiture ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan that the phone tapping and IPL controversy were not fit cases to constitute a joint parliamentary committee (JPC).

Sushma Swaraj said she was "shocked to see in the newspaper" that the prime minister had made a statement rejecting the Bharatiya Janata Party's demand.

"This is not an ordinary thing. This is an insult to the august house," she asserted, amidst a ruckus by members of Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal over rising prices.