Vajpayee refuses to challenge speaker's ruling

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today rejected a suggestion to contest Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi's ruling allowing Orissa Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang to vote on the confidence motion.

"We will not challenge the speaker's ruling," Vajpayee said, after submitting his resignation to President K R Narayanan. The government lost the vote of confidence by a single vote.

Earlier, in the Lok Sabha, ruling coalition members, including Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Kumaramangalam, submitted to the speaker that Gamang should not be allowed to vote as he holds the office of chief minister and had been absent from the House for more than 60 days.

After consulting the rule books, Balayogi left it to Gamang to act according to his conscience. And that vote turned out to be the clincher.

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