The draft bill was cleared by the law ministry on Wednesday and would be circulated among the members of Lok Sabha. However, as the bill can only be introduced in the house 48 hours after circulation among the members, finance ministry sources said, it would not be possible to table it before Monday.

Although the government tried to seek waiver of the clause of prior circulation of bill among the members, it was not agreed by the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Lok Sabha.

The IRA bill seeks to provide 40 per cent equity participation to foreigners in the insurance sector joint ventures. This would include 26 per cent equity to the foreign companies and 14 per cent to Foreign Institutions Investors (FIIs), Overseas Corporate Bodies (OCBs) and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). The provisions of the IRA billwere approved by cabinet earlier.

On the political front the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continued its efforts to seek cooperation among the allies for smooth passage of the crucial bill.

Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee held a meeting with the senior members of the Samata Party to elicit the cooperation of the party for the bill. According to indications, the Samata Party, despite reservations, would go along with the government.

The BJP leadership, it may be mentioned, had earlier managed to successfully impress upon its own members the need for supporting the insurance sector reforms and more importantly throwing it open to the foreign companies with minority share holding.

Meanwhile, all the non-Congress Opposition parties, including the left , the JD, the RJD, SP, TMC, DMK and the AGP on Wednesday expressed their opposition to the IRA and the Patents bills.

Talking to reporters in Parliament, Biplav Dasgupta of CPM said "we will oppose the bills with all our strength inside and outsideParliament in view of the wound it would inflict on the Indian people".

Dasgupta accused the Congress of colluding with the BJP for the passage of the insurance bill. The Congress, however, maintained that it would take a view on the IRA bill only after reading the provisions in the bill. Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi said: "we are waiting for the bill. Only after getting the copy shall we clear our stand".

Meanwhile, prime minister Vajpayee has called a dinner meeting with Opposition party leaders tonight to discuss the women's reservation bill. He is also likely to take this opportunity to push the IRA bill as well.