Rahul Gandhi to begin no-confidence motion debate against Modi government in Lok Sabha today

Rahul Gandhi of the Congress who was reinstated as the Lok Sabha MP on Monday, three days after the Indian Supreme Court suspended his criminal defamation conviction in the Modi surname case, will start the no-confidence debate against the Narendra Modi government in the Lower House of Parliament on Tuesday, sources said.

Rahul Gandhi's party colleagues Gaurav Gogoi and Manish Tewari will be other speakers from the Congress, the sources added. Gandhi made his last speech in the Lok Sabha on 7 February 2023, when he had participated in the debate on the President's speech.

A fierce critic of Modi and his main challenger in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Wayanad MP was ousted from Parliament after his conviction by a Gujarat magistrate's court in March. The Supreme Court stayed his conviction on Friday, which means it is temporarily halted while the court goes into Gandhi's appeal in detail before issuing a final ruling. Gandhi was sentenced to two years in prison but the court suspended his prison sentence in April. The conviction was upheld by the Gujarat high court so he filed an appeal in the Supreme Court last month.

The discussion on the no-confidence motion will begin in the Lok Sabha from Tuesday. According to sources, a time of 12 hours has been fixed for the discussion.

"In this, a time of about 6 hours and 41 minutes has been fixed for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and about one hour and 15 minutes for the Congress party. While, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), Shivsena, Janata Dal -United (JDU), Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) have been given a total of 2 hours, which has been divided according to the number of party members in the house", the sources told news agency ANI.

At the same time, a time limit of 1 hour 10 minutes has been set for other small parties and independent MPs.

Modi to reply on 10 August

On 10 August, Modi will reply to the debate on the no-confidence motion against the BJP-led NDA government presented by Gogoi over the Opposition's demand for a detailed discussion on violence in Manipur and a statement from the prime minister.

"(Rahul Gandhi) will definitely speak," said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday on being asked if Gandhi would speak during the no-confidence motion discussion.

The no-confidence motion moved by Opposition parties of I.N.D.I.A bloc was accepted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla last week.

Ahead of the no-confidence motion debate in Lok Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party has called a meeting of its parliamentary party on Tuesday.