Mahanta govt wins trust vote

GUWAHATI, DEC 5: The two-and-half year old Prafulla Mahanta-led Assam coalition ministry today won a Congress-sponsored no-confidence motion.

Speaker Ganesh Kutum announced that 64 members voted against the motion and 34 were for it, at the end of voting after the Congress pressed for a division during voice. Two votes each for ruling and Opposition side were rejected. The ASDC, BJP, PDF and BSMC members abstained from voting.

The no-confidence motion, the first against the ministry, was brought up by the Congress and supported by the United Minority Front (UMF) for alleged failure of the government on “all fronts”.

Earlier replying to a over three-hour long debate in the House on the motion, Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta attributed the failure of AGP to win even a single seat in the last Lok Sabha elections for the party’s decision not to “compromise with the militants”.