Defeat had stared the government in its face, after all its efforts to persuade Trinamool to give up its opposition to the bill's Lokayukta clause and cajole the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party into walking out of the House had failed.
Some 122 members had looked set to oppose the government's bill while the government's tally stopped at 109 in a House of 243. More ominously for the government, there was a risk of a rival bill being passed if many amendments - including the one moved by Trinamool Congress - were cleared by the Upper House.
Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari adjourned the House without fixing its next sitting just past midnight after the government claimed that it would not be able to sort out and respond to a record 187 amendments submitted by various parties.
"If we want to be true to the cause, we need more time to go through the amendments," said parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal. He then responded to opposition taunts by saying the government was ready to pass the Lok Sabha version of the bill.
Congress sources later told TOI the session had been inconclusive and the government remained committed to the passage of the bill.
Ansari's ruling was vehemently protested by the opposition which accused the government of running away as it lacked a majority, and said that it was ready to sit through the night to clear the bill. Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley also said that the government had choreographed chaos to dodge a vote.
It is ironical that I am the leader of opposition but I am speaking for the majority of the House. A government which was in a hopeless minority had deliberately choreographed proceedings so that a vote could not be taken today. A government which runs away from facing the House has no business to be in office for a minute," said Arun Jaitley, leader of the opposition in the RS. Proceedings dragged on till midnight as members belonging to parties backing the government, directly or indirectly, rambled on. Rajneeti Prasad (RJD) tore up the bill with hardly a protest from treasury benches. Opposition leaders saw it as a time-wasting tactic.
After parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal said that the government did not want to pass a "hodge-podge" legislation and needed time to sift through amendments, Ansari rose to address the House "An unprecedented situation has arisen. There seems to be desire to outshout each other. It is a total impasse. Proceedings cannot be conducted in this noise. There is no option.... most reluctantly.... (to adjourn the House sine die).
After that he called for the national song, Vande Matram, to be played and thereafter formally announced that the House was adjourned sine die. Political analyst Yogendra Yadav described the abrupt end to the proceedings as "match-fixing of the worst kind".
Earlier, the opposition had sought his intervention as "custodian of the House" to protect rights and get the government to face a vote. Though Bansal claimed the government is keen to pass the bill, there is no clarity when this can be done. The bill will remain pending in RS which cannot be summoned without President's nod. Rules lay down that the first session of a year has to start with a joint address by President. Bansal made it clear it was the government's prerogative to decide when to hold the next session; in this case whether to hold one ahead of the budget session due to start end February. Uncertainty will persist as numbers are not going to improve for the government as the bill's opponents will find it difficult to alter their position without significant concessions from the ruling coalition. In fact, the term of three nominated members who would have voted for government ended on Thursday, worsening what was a difficult situation to start with.
The voting was preceded by last-ditch effort to persuade Trinamool, SP and BSP to bail out the government. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee held desperate parleys with the three parties, with Bansal and law minister Salman Khurshid chipping in with the effort to bring them around. With West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee monitoring the show from Kolkata, Trinamool MPs declared they would insist on putting their amendment seeking to scrap the Lokayukta chapter from the bill to vote as it ran counter to the right of the states to frame their state-level anti-graft ombudsman. Their defiance also spurred BSP and SP to resist government's pressure. The vote looked uncertain as the numbers continued to be elusive for the government.Even the debate crossed 11 hours, various speakers, including independents and one-MP parties were, allowed long minutes. Minister V Narayanasamy began his reply at only 11 pm. To some, it looked like a time-wasting tactic.
The six Trinamool MPs only held the key to the delicate balance of numbers in the House where the UPA on its own does not command a majority. The situation tilted further against the government with BSP indicating it might stay on the House. Congress managers realized if BSP's 18 MPs supported the Trinamool amendment along with BJP, Left and other regional players, the game would be over. Aware that the government was faced with dire options, the Congress core group met at 4.30 to take stock. Facing the vote, even at the risk of the Trinamool amendment being passed was an option, with some suggesting government should go down fighting and capitalize on the defeat like Indira Gandhi did on abolition of privy purses and Rajiv Gandhi on the constitutional amendment for Panchayati Raj. The option of sending the bill to a select panel was considered but was given up because of the realization that bill opponents would have the majority in the panel. Mamata resisted attempts to bring her around as Congress offered a couple fo changes in the lokayukta formulations but she remained unconvinced.
The change in Trinamool thinking lay in Mamata's anger over the party having been taken for a "ride" by the amendment that purportedly protected the rights of the states by stating the Lokayuktas will not be notified without their consent. With the government's strategy of repeating the LS gameplan of ensuring SP, BSP and RJD not voting against the bill coming apart, it was left scrambling for a way out. It was noticeable various independents and one-MP parties supporting the government being allowed to ramble on and on in the House as the clock moved towards 11 pm. This led to speculation that if the date changed the House would be adjourned as the three-day session ended.
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