Jointly sponsored by the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Party, and the Janata Dal, the motion was put to vote by Speaker Dhirubhai Shah when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Mehta insisted on a division, although there was never any doubt about the ruling party's strength.

The vote came after an almost four-hour-long, somewhat acrimonious debate in which the Opposition blamed the government for the huge death toll in the June 9 cyclone, deteriorating law and order, atrocities on minorities and weaker sections, rising prices, neglect of farmers, and corruption.

But the Opposition attack lacked punch, and many of its benches remained empty during the debate and also at the time of voting. By contrast, all BJP members were present and its counter-attack,spearheaded by senior ministers, was effective.

Naturally, therefore, when the chief minister got up to reply to the debate, he did not have to labour much. In his brief remarks, he denied charges that the government hadn't taken sufficient precautionary measures before the cyclone, rebutted the charge of atrocities on weaker sections, and said the government had taken steps to make police more effective.

The chief minister told the Opposition leader Amarsinh Chaudhary that no argument could convert half-truths and falsehoods into truths. ``Let us all work for making Gujarat a prosperous and vibrant state,'' he said, adding that it was unfortunate that there was so much poverty and illiteracy even 50 years after independence.

Earlier, initiating the debate, Chaudhary alleged that the government was being run by bureaucrats.

He said the RSS had posted one man to keep a watch on each minister. Thus emboldened, the RSS men were harassing minorities. They had tried to politicise a marriage between aMuslim boy and a Hindu girl in Bardoli, and incidents of harassment of Christians had taken place at Baroda and Dang.

Chaudhary accused the government of not taking sufficient precautionary measures despite ample advance warning of the cyclone. He said the government alone was to blame for the large number of deaths in and around Kandla, and demanded an inquiry by a Supreme Court judge to fix responsibility. He also blamed the government for the rising prices of edible oils. It did not want to annoy ``oil barons'', he said.

The ruling party fielded Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Mehta, Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala, Health Minister Ashok Bhat, Narmada Development Minister Jayanarayan Vyas, and Civil Supplies Minister Jaspal Singh who explained certain points, conveniently glossed over others and counter-attacked, making the opposition defensive.

When Vala recalled Chaudhary's alleged involvement in a case of illicit felling of trees, the Opposition leader had to get up and make his defence,without much help from others.

Similarly, RJP leader Mansinh Chauhan was left countering Vyas's charge that the Congress ``ran their shop'' along with Shanker Singh Vaghela and Dilip Parikh during short-lived RJP governments.

The poet in Patel

Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel turned poetic while replying to the debate on the no-confidence motion in the state Assembly today. He quoted two couplets, one of the late Hindi poet Dushyant, and the other his own, taking liberties with Dushyant.

Patel said it was unfortunate that that there was so much poverty and illiteracy in the country even after 50 years of independence. Therefore, he wanted some basic changes, he said, ``Sirf hangama khada karna mera maqsad nahin, meri koshish hai ki ye surat badalni chahiye.''