Ally threatens India's ruling coalition

A vote of confidence in Manipur tests the coalition government of Atal Behari Vajapayee

By staff and wire reports

NEW DELHI, India -- A crucial state vote Monday is set to determine if India's ruling National Democratic Alliance will lose support from a key coalition ally.

The Samata Party says it will quit Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajapayee's Federal Government if the ruling coalition's main party does not support a vote of confidence for Radhabinode Koijam, the chief minister in the state of Manipur.

Samata general secretary Shambhu Shrivastava accused the coalition's majority Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of paying mere lip service in supporting Koijam.

"The BJP leadership first assured us that they would support us in the vote. But later they refused to order their members to vote for Koijam, and that triggered the crisis," Srivastava said.

Samata hinted that it might withdraw from the ruling coalition, despite an assurance it would not do so for now.

The Koijam issue is "not a question of Manipur but a question of trust," Shrivastava said.

"If the BJP votes against our government in Manipur, then the most likely decision (Monday) will be to get out of the (federal) government," he added.

Samata, which has four minsters in Vajpayee's cainet, runs a two-month-old coalition government in the northeastern state of Manipur.

It has 13 lawmakers in the 60-seat local legislature and needs the BJP's 26 votes to gain the vote of confidence for Koijam.

Cracks in ruling coalition

Samata's threat comes only a week after elections in five Indian states saw the opposition Congress Party of Sonia Gandhi and her allies winning in four.

Gandhi's opposition party victory in recent elections hints of new political alliances

Although the BJP played only a minor role in the elections, analysts have said its future political alliances could be affected by the opposition victories.

The BJP-led ruling coalition received its first blow when regional ally Trinamool Congress left it shortly after an arms bribery scandal broke out in March.

The scandal has given the opposition, particularly Gandhi's Congress Party, reason to call for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's resignation.

The resulting opposition boycotts in parliament prior to the elections stalled the passage of the national budget.

BJP president K. Jana Krishnamurty expressed confidence for his party's hold on parliament.

He said the crucial test for the Congress Party will be elections in India's second-largest state Uttar Pradesh later this year.

Reuters contributed to this report.