Sonia Gandhi’s maths is weak, says Ananth Kumar ahead of no-confidence motion

Union minister Ananth Kumar said on Friday Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s “maths is weak” and that the Opposition’s calculation on Friday’s no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government was “wrong”.

Kumar was reacting to UPA chairperson’s remark that Congress was confident about winning the no-trust motion.

“Sonia ji’s maths is weak. Their calculation is wrong ... The Modi government has the majority both inside and outside Parliament,” parliamentary affairs minister Kumar said.

“We will see today and tomorrow that which regional parties get together with Congress as a B team,” Ram Madhav, BJP’s national general secretary also said.

The Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were among the opposition parties that moved the motion on Wednesday, the first day of the monsoon session. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Thursday allowed the motion to be taken up on Friday.

Explained: What is the no confidence motion and why has it been raised?

A ruling party leader said on the condition of anonymity that Prime Minister Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah wanted to take the opposition by surprise by accepting the no-confidence challenge on day one.

“We feel the opposition will have no issue to disrupt the house after the no-confidence is taken up,” the minister said.

The saffron party has 273 members in the Lok Sabha, without taking political allies into account.