NEW DELHI: NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday revealed that when the Atal Bihari Vajpayee govt lost the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha by just one vote in 1999, it was he (Pawar) who got that “one ruling alliance (NDA) vote” in the opposition’s favour after a discussion that lasted 8-10 mins.
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Pawar made the revelation at the launch of a Marathi book ‘Sansad Bhawan te Central Vista‘ written by Nileshkumar Kulkarni at Delhi’s Maharashtra Sadan on Thursday. The event, which was organised on the eve of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan starting Friday, was attended by Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut.
Speaking about his memories of the old Parliament building, Pawar narrated the 1999 episode when he was the Leader of Opposition during the Vajpayee govt. “Not many remember that I was the Leader of Opposition in 1999. We brought a no-confidence motion against the Vajpayee govt and a lot of debate happened on it in Parliament. Before voting on the no-confidence motion, we had eight to ten minutes when I stepped out of the House for ‘discussion’. After that, when the voting took place, one member from the govt’s side voted in the opposition’s favour. Vajpayee’s govt was voted out by just one vote. I got that one vote in the opposition’s favour, but I will not reveal how I did it,” Pawar said.
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Commenting about the Central Vista, Pawar said that the affection for the new Parliament building has not yet happened. “I still feel affection for the old Parliament building which has witnessed iconic politicians of the country.”
