The Lok Sabha on Tuesday defeated the cut motions on petroleum and urea prices sponsored by a fraction of the Opposition by a huge margin, leaving the UPA government comfortable in the saddle and the Opposition in complete disarray. The government got backing from 21 MPs of the BSP, besides help from the SP and the RJD who walked out of the House. A total of 246 MPs rejected the motions, which got support from only 162 MPs.

On the same day, demands for grants of all ministries in the government and the appropriation bills were passed by the House through a voice vote.

In a startling development, Jharkhand chief minister and JMM MP Shibu Soren?acing murder charges?voted for the UPA although the BJP backs his state government. This prompted BJP?s Arjun Munda to say that ?it?s a serious issue and we will raise it in the party forum.?

The Lok Sabha had adjourned earlier in the day as Opposition leaders protested against rising prices. Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj also lashed out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for making a statement outside the House that the phone tapping and IPL issues were not fit for JPC probes. As many as 50 BJP MPs had tabled a breach of privilege notice in the Lok Sabha against Singh for announcing his decision outside Parliament.

Noting that the practice followed so far was that the cut motions on demands which were to be guillotined were not allowed to be moved, Speaker Meira Kumar said she had not found “any rule which bars the moving of cut motions on demands which are not discussed in the House.”

The UPA managers succeeded in breaking opposition ranks while ensuring almost full attendance of its members. Only three members from the treasury benches ? including Madhu Koda who is in jail, an NCP member who was abroad and a Congress member from West Bengal, who is in hospital after a bypass surgery ? stayed away.

The Opposition, according to sources, is now unlikely to move amendments to the Finance Bill, when it is taken up for voting on Thursday.

The Lok Sabha also witnessed high drama and embarrassment for the government when the electronic voting machine failed, forcing parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal to apologise to the House and seek consent for voting through paper ballots. The UPA numbers were shored up effectively with BSP chief and UP chief minister Mayawati declaring in the morning that all her MPs would vote for the government.

The SP with 21 members and the RJD with four members opted to walk out. Amidst allegations by BJP and Left members of cutting a deal behind the scene, RJD president Lalu Prasad maintained that his party and the SP were against the government on the price hike issue but would not be able to vote with the BJP. An angry CPI member Gurudas Dasgupta retorted that the SP and the RJD had gone back on their promise to attack the government on the price hike issue.

Sources said the Yadav duo had indicated their stand to the Left leaders about their strategy. The Left leaders were not convinced and stuck to their stand that they will move cut motions and press for a division. Most cut motions related to ministry of chemical and fertilisers and the ministy of petroleum seeking rollback in the hike in prices of urea and petroleum products.