The two-day Congress boycott of proceedings following the suspension of two its legislators from the House last Friday had virtually posed a serious threat to the bill, creating some panic among legislators, cutting across party lines. Leaders of both the rival parties held a series of meetings over the last two days in a bid to end the deadlock, but a solution continued to evade them till Tuesday afternoon.

Finally in an unprecedented climbdown, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party decided to have revoked the suspension of the two Congress members -- chief whip Naresh Raval and Khumansinh Chauhan.

Immediately after question hour, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Mehta got up to move a proposal in the Assembly withdrawing the suspension, which was later accepted by the House.

The elected members, particularly those belonging to the ruling party, had earlier reportedly mounted pressure on their respective party leaders to end the boycott stalemate in their anxiety to bring and pass in the House a legislation envisaging the hike in their salary and perks.

The proposed bill will most probably be brought in the House on Wednesday, the concluding day of the current budget session.

``Had the Congress boycott of the House continued till Wednesday, the proposed Bill could not have been brought till the next six months, and we all elected members would have to wait for the hike in our salary and allowances till the next Assembly session,'' a section of the BJP legislators told Ahmedabad Newsline in the evening.

Even Civil Supplies Minister Jaspal Singh, who played a crucial role in breaking the boycott deadlock, felt that the proposed bill if placed and passed unanimously on Wednesday would help at least those members who had no other source of income.

However, the most vocal BJP member, Mahendra Mashru, who represents the Junagadh constituency, and Independent MLA from Jamalpur, Usmangani Devdiwala, said they would oppose the bill if placed in the House on Wednesday.

In fact, Mashru has written to Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, registering his protest against the move to hike the legislators' salary and allowances.

According to sources in the Assembly Secretariate, the hike of about Rs 6,000 in each of the MLAs' and ministers' salaries and allowances have been proposed, which may entail an additional burden of over Rs 2.6 crore per year.