“I will defy the party whip and vote against the UPA government on nuclear deal during the confidence vote on July 22. I have support of around seven party MPs. The deal is anti-Muslim and we are against it more so because it is being promoted by the US, which is an anti-Muslim country,” Hasan told reporters here.

The Muzaffarnagar MP, who has been offered a ticket for the next general election by the BSP, said that he has not formally joined Mayawati but would do so after July 22.

“Once me and my other fellow MPs defy the SP whip, then we will join BSP,” Hasan said.

He claimed that he was persistently being wooed by “various people” to vote in favour of the UPA government.

“In fact on July 10, one Rupesh Kumar who identified himself as a chartered accountant of a company, offered me a bribe of Rs 25 crore to vote in favour of the government,” the MP claimed.

When asked as to why he did not register a complaint against the person or inform BSP supremo Mayawati about it, Munnawar said he found the media an appropriate outlet to disclose this information.

Though he avoided uttering anything against SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Munnawar said the SP’s Muslim votebank had “slipped” and many of its MPs, who did not turn up for the Parliamentary Party meeting held earlier today, were against the deal.

“In fact some Congress MPs too are in touch with me while SP MPs like Raj Narayan Budholiya and Jai Prakash Rawat are already with us,” he claimed.

To a question on his knowledge about the nuclear deal, Hasan said, “I don’t know much about the deal, but what I know is that it is anti-Muslim and pro-US and America is an enemy of Muslims and Muslim nations.” Pointed out that former President A P J Abdul Kalam had endorsed the deal, Munnawar said Kalam is not a leader of Muslim community.

He expressed confidence that the UPA government would not survive the trust vote and that a bigger UNPA led by BSP supremo Mayawati would emerge on the picture.

As numbers game gets tough, help of even sick MPs sought New Delhi, July 18 (PTI) With next week’s trust vote set to go right down the wire, sick and ailing MPs may be airlifted in desperate measures by party managers.

And whose word will be final--that of the doctor or the party leadership--is just a matter of time. But party bosses are keeping their fingers crossed so that no vote is lost by default that may mar their objective.

Film star-turned-MP Dharmendra of BJP is also being reportedly rushed from Los Angeles where is shooting for a film so that he is in time for the July 22 trust vote sought by the UPA government. in the Lok Sabha.

With fingers of party managers of rival alliances constantly at the calculators rustling the numbers, efforts were also underway by political parties to convince the Lok Sabha secretariat to allow ailing MPs to cast their vote from the Lobby of parliament house.

This concession for former prime minister and BJP veteran Atal Behari Vajpayee and others has been reportedly sought on the ground that it would be difficult for the ailing MPs to reach their respective seats in the House.

BJP’s Mahesh Kanodia, who is also a well known singer, is unwell after undergoing an open heart surgery and party managers are mulling bringing him by air ambulance to Delhi.

Another MP of the saffron party Harish Chandra Chavan who is recovering from injuries in a Nashik hospital is in a precarious condition since doctors say it will take another two months for him to get better.

“I have told the party leadership and the doctors that if my conditions does not worsen by going for the trust vote by air I will surely go. But if it will, I will have to listen to my doctors and not travel,” Chavan said.

A doctor attending on him said it will not be advisable for the MP to travel. (MORE)PTI GSN GSN 07181719 DEL Sent at 5:14 PM on Friday parokar: GOVT-SICK 2 LAST The Lok Sabha manual provides for the Speaker to allow exceptions in a case a member cannot vote from his seat.

Voting slips are provided to such members and they are assisted in the procedure.