We are not lame duck govt: UPA Ministers
New Delhi, Mar 20 : While its southern ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) pulled out over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue, the ministers of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in New Delhi said the government is not a lame duck one and would push important bills.
"We are neither lame, nor duck. We are not a lame duck government," said Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday.
"We are absolutely stable," Kamal Nath said at a press conference along with other ministers like P Chidambaram and Manish Tewari in New Delhi.
"No political party has come out and challenged the majority of this government," he said.
Chidambaram said all important bills will be passed in parliament.
"I am sure on the merits of reform bills, political parties will support the government," he said, adding that all the bills were necessary for the country and taking forward its economy.
The ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA)'s southern ally DMK on Tuesday pulled out of the government in New Delhi over its "soft stand" on the atrocities on Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamils vis-a-vis a US-sponsored resolution at the UNHRC session at Geneva, dealing a body blow to the main constituent Congress party led coalition.
DMK leader TR Baalu on Tuesday night handed over the letter of withdrawal of support to President Pranab Mukherjee and then told reporters that the ministers will step down on Wednesday when their chief M Karunanidhi "will decide whether we give outside support or not."
The UPA has been reduced to a minority after the exit of 18 DMK MPs.
While the government needs 271 lawmakers' support to survive any confidence vote in the 543-strong lower house (Lok Sabha), it has about 235 seats of its own along with other alliance partners which are part of the government.
But the government is banking on the backing of two other regional parties - Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)- from outside. Their support will take the figure of UPA to roughly 277 members.
The DMK wanted India to go for a strongly worded resolution against Sri Lanka for its atrocities and killings of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka that followed after the civil war in that country ended with the defeat of the LTTE.