Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] on Monday praised veteran Marxists Jyoti Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet for their 'sagacity and leadership' that helped set up his coalition government while making no reference to the current Communist Party of India - Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat, who has been at odds with him over the India-United States nuclear agreement.

In a brief speech while moving the motion of confidence in his Council of Ministers in the Lok Sabha, Singh recalled the contributions of Basu and Surjeet and hailed them as 'architects of our coalition government'.

The Prime Minister said, "If we are here after a tenure of four years, the credit for this should go to all the leaders of the United Progressive Alliance, to the leadership of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi [Images], to the wise and visionary leadership of Jyoti Basu, Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Dr Karunanidhi."

"They were all the architects of our coalition government. It is their wisdom and sagacity that has helped me and our government function for these four years," he added.

Given the bitterness that has marked relations between the UPA and the Left in the recent weeks, the import of the fact that the prime minister did not mention Karat's name was not lost.

Singh's remarks were seen as a veiled dig at the Left parties, which withdrew support to his government over the nuclear deal.

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Chavan will be present for trust vote: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party's central leadership has asked its Member of Parliament from Malegaon Harishchandra Chavan to be present in Delhi for Tuesday's trust vote, despite being bedridden with fracture injuries in a hospital in Nashik.

"If the doctor and my family members permits me, I will go to Delhi via Mumbai," Chavan told PTI.

Chavan's family members are demanding a special flight from Nasik to New Delhi as he is suffering from multiple fractures on his right thigh along with high blood pressure and diabetes.

Dr Prashant Patil, attending surgeon on Chavan, is apprehensive about his visit to the national capital.

"We have formed a panel of orthopaedic doctors to study Chavan's injury. But allowing him to move from the hospital is risky... if the visit aggravates his injuries, he will require another surgery," Patil said.

Chavan suffered fracture injuries in a car accident a month ago.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader N M Avhad said that Chavan might be allowed to cast his vote through video conferencing.

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In case of tie, Speaker votes with the government: Sangma

Praising Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee for turning a deaf ear to the Communist Party of India � Marxist's demand that he resign and vote against the government, former speaker P A Sangma on Monday said the Speaker ideally votes with the government in case of a tie.

"The Speaker should uphold the dignity of the post. He is right in not resigning as the Speaker does not belong to any political party," Sangma said.

Sangma was accompanied by his daughter Agatha Sangma who took oath as MP today.

When asked what the Speaker should do in case there is a tie in the trust vote, Sangma said, "Normally, the Speaker votes to save the government. This is the convention internationally. But this is not binding on the Speaker."