On the face of it, the naysayers seem to have won the day in Parliament, but it was UPA's friends who made it cut a sorry figure. The Women's Reservation Bill will not be cleared by the Rajya Sabha today. The UPA government was keen on passing the bill as a gift to India's women on the centenary of the International Women's Day.

True to promise, the two principal opponents to reserving 33 percent seats in all directly elected legislatures, Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal and Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, kicked up such a row in the Rajya Sabha that it had to be adjourned five times before it was decided to schedule voting on the bill for 6 pm today. Such was the determination of the government to clear the bill today. That was because the BJP, the Left and their allies had assured full support to the bill.

But in an act of clever parliamentary brinkmanship, the BJP pulled its hand out, taking the exalted position that the party cannot be expected to vote on a constitution amendment without a debate (for which there is little time today). That forced the prime minister to call for an all-party meeting at 6.15 pm today where he would have tried to convince the BJP to come around.

Then came the unkindest cut for the government. It's own allies, Trinamool Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, too echoed the BJP "no debate no vote" sentiment. That forced the prime minister to call off the all-party meeting and schedule it for Tuesday, effectively putting paid to the Congress's plans to push the bill through today itself.

Of course, much will be said about how the BJP led it up the garden path, by making it believe that it was eager to see the bill through and then withdrawing tactically in the nick of time. But the fact is, the Congress floor managers seem to have been outplayed.

Even while declaring that the BJP wants the bill passed as women's reservation was originally the BJP's idea, party spokesman S S Ahluwalia told reporters that there were set norms for a constitution amendment bill and his party was not ready to compromise on these.

Earlier, his colleague and leader of opposition Arun Jaitley had said there should be transparency in government's business and this called for a debate on the bill.

The party's stand was quickly announced when it was learnt that the Congress wanted a voting on the bill at 6 pm.

Meanwhile the prime minister has cancelled an all-party meet he had conveyened at 6.15 pm to sort out the mess as a few members belonging to the Samajwadi Party and RJD have paralysed parliament to protest their opposition to the quota bill. The meeting has been rescheduled for noon tomorrow.