It was after a meeting between the prime minister Manmohan Singh and Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav and others on Thursday morning that clinched the truce on the quota bill.

Senior PMO official played a crucial role in this truce. The Yadav brothers met the PM immediately after the supreme court pronounced its verdict giving partial relief to them in the disproportionate asset case.

The prime minister is reported to have asked them to cooperate in running the house smoothly. When the Yadav brothers said that the bill is unconstitutional in its present form and the supreme court would strike it down again, the PM is said to have told them that the government was committed for it.

Parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath conveyed to them that no party can obstruct passage of the bill. Ram Gopal Yadav admitted that even on the women’s reservation bill, the SP was isolated and thrown out of the RS.

Even if the Rajya Sabha passes the quota bill, it will have to pass the test in the Lok Sabha on December 20. So a delay is bound to take place.