The INDIA coalition of Opposition parties will bring a no-confidence motion against the government on Wednesday to create a situation where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is left with no option but to speak on Manipur in the Lok Sabha.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury spoke to ANI about the decision late on Tuesday night after the Opposition leaders finalised the motion.

The Opposition has resorted to this extreme step — which it knows it will lose given how the numbers are stacked up in the Lok Sabha — as the government has till date refused to accept its demand that the Prime Minister make a statement in both Houses of Parliament, sources said.

The Opposition has not accepted the government’s offer of Union home minister Amit Shah making a statement because it feels the Manipur issue is much more than just about law and order. The INDIA coalition, which thinks that the Prime Minister’s silence when the situation festered for over two months compounded matters, insists that he needs to speak on Manipur in Parliament to send out a clear and reassuring message to the fractured polity of the hill state.

Invoking Rule 198 of the Lok Sabha Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business was discussed at a meeting called by the leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, on Tuesday morning. “It is the last instrument that the Opposition has to make the Prime Minister speak in the Lok Sabha,” a Congress MP said.

The motion was finalised late in the evening as the coalition was awaiting the green signal from all constituent parties, some of which had to refer the matter to their respective leaders. The Congress has issued a three-line whip asking all its Lok Sabha MPs to be present in the Congress parliamentary party office at 10.30 on Wednesday morning.

If the Speaker admits the motion, this will be the second no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government. The first one was moved by the TDP in 2018 over the non-allocation of adequate funds for the successor state of Andhra Pradesh and backed by the Opposition parties. The government sailed through the vote and is unlikely to be worried on the number front this time either.

Under Rule 198, the written notice of such a motion has to be submitted before 10am to the secretary-general of the Lok Sabha if it is to be taken up by the Speaker that very day provided it is in order. If the Speaker is of the view that the motion is in order, he will read it in the House and request members to rise in support of it. If 50 members rise in support, the motion is allowed to be taken up on a date specified by the Speaker. The motion has to be taken up within 10 days from the day it is accepted.

In the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition will continue to press for a statement by the Prime Minister. Party leaders have urged members to avoid rushing into the Well for fear that more MPs would be suspended after AAP’s Sanjay Singh’s suspension on Monday. Add to this the extension of the suspension of Rajni Patil of the Congress.

Meanwhile, the coordination within the ranks of the INDIA coalition continued apace on Tuesday and was particularly visible after word came from the BJP parliamentary party meeting that Modi had ridiculed the Opposition for christening itself INDIA. Various Opposition party leaders criticised the Prime Minister for his remarks and saw in them yet another effort to divert attention from the demand for accountability and answers on Manipur.