``The bill will be tabled next week,'' Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana said this evening, ``I have written a letter to Speaker GMC Balayogi urging him to list it either for Monday or Tuesday.'' Party spokesperson K L Sharma also said this afternoon that the BJP would issue a whip to its MPs instructing them to vote in favour of the bill. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has also been asked to prepare a note explaining to MPs why they should vote for the bill, considering that theBJP opposed a somewhat similar bill when the United Front proposed it.

Yesterday, some top BJP leaders met senior SJM leaders as well as KS Sudarshan, joint general secretary of the RSS, to discuss a compromise solution. The SJM, though, is likely to go ahead with its plan to stage a demonstration outside Parliament tomorrow to voice its opposition. Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP K R Malkani today met George Fernandes along with CPI's Gurudas Gupta to convey his reservations.

Meanwhile, today, several of the BJP allies came out openly against the proposed bill, saying that it did not figure in the National Agenda for Governance (NAG). While there was no indication as to how the BJP proposed to tackle this situation, its new moves may help quell the opposition.

The TDP, for example, is believed to be in favour of foreign participation but is arguing for lowering the amount. And while the Samata Party has taken a stand against the bill, Co-ordination Committee convenor and Defence Minister GeorgeFernandes tightlipped today: ``The IRA bill was approved by the entire Cabinet. I was there.'' The BJP has been arguing that the Cabinet, which includes the allied parties, had approved the bill, and so their opposition now is unwarranted.

Under the compromise scheme being worked out, it is expected that foreign equity in private Indian insurance companies will be limited to a maximum of 26 per cent, while another 14 per cent of equity can be held by non-resident Indians (NRIs). Foreign financial institutions (FIIs) and NRI-controlled overseas corporate bodies (OCBs) will be allowed to own a maximum of 14 per cent of the equity, but this will be subject to the overall 26 per cent limit for foreign equity.

So if an FII or an OCB takes up a 14 per cent stake in the insurance firm, the maximum equity that a foreign insurance firm will be allowed to take up in this firm will be 12 per cent.

Under the earlier version cleared by the Cabinet, while foreign equity of 26 per cent was to be allowed, another 14per cent could be taken up by either NRIs, OCBs or FIIs. In other words, in the policy cleared by the Cabinet last month, foreign firms could theoretically get to control up to a 40 per cent stake in the insurance firms-26 per cent directly and 14 per cent through a friendly FII.