So touch-and-go were the negotiations over the amendments proposed by the Congress that just 80 minutes into the formal voting, Priyaranjan Das Munshi told The Indian Express that the party was going to oppose the Bill. Around 3:30 pm, the buzz in the press gallery was that the Bill wouldn't be put to vote.

Understandably, when the Bill was eventually voted upon, leaders of both parties, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Sonia Gandhi, fumbled, unsure of which way to vote. While Vajpayee actually filled up the green side of the slip (or voted against his own government the first time around), Sonia too had to ask for another slip, to correct her faux pas.

The day began with a breakfast at the house of Parliamentary Affairs MinisterPramod Mahajan where Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha tried to hammer out the final compromise. At one point, with the Congress insisting that all its demands be met, including one which stated that insurance firms would have to invest at least 75 per cent of their earnings in government securities, Sinha even spoke to Vajpayee to convey the lack of progress.

Eventually, however, with Congress ex-MP Murli Deora putting everything into getting the Bill through, the party agreed to let this one go - the Bill has kept this limit at 50 per cent, though the Insurance Regulatory Authority will theoretically be free to increase or decrease this.

With the Bill through, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani was seen congratulating Gandhi and thanking her for her constructive co-operation. Sinha said the insurance business would grow from about two per cent of the GDP now to 4.5 per cent by 2002-03. The Bill was passed by a voice vote, with the Left parties walking out.

Enthused by the co-operation, and the apparentsorting out of differences with the Congress over the inclusion of Rajiv Gandhi's name in the Bofors chargesheet, Sinha quickly moved the FEMA and money laundering bills, which together will replace the outdated FERA bill. Late in the evening, these too were passed with barely 30 members present.

A small hitch still remains, though. Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha, and a strong opponent of the Bill, Vyalar Ravi, says he will move an amendment in the Rajya Sabha, asking that the Bill state that neither Life Insurance Corporation of India nor General Insurance Corporation will be privatised, or its shares sold to the private sector.