NEW DELHI, Aug 6: Stiff opposition from the left and the Bharatiya Janata Party forced the United Front government to withdraw the controversial Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.When it became clear that BJP amendments to the Bill, calling for barring multinationals from the insurance sector, would be carried with the left, BSP and BJP allies, Samta Party and Shiv Sena voting for it, prime minister IK Gujral declared that the government was withdrawing the bill.

The prime minister first sought deferment of voting on the Bill but later agreed to withdraw it after all efforts by finance minister P Chidambaram failed to persuade the movers of the amendments to withdraw them.

Gujral said the government has noted the members' apprehensions and, therefore, did not want to push forward the Bill without a consensus. The government had no intention to do anything behind the House's back, Gujral said, assuring that the Bill would now be presented in a modified form.

Lodha's amendment to clause 13 of the Bill said the authority would not be "empowered to permit any foreign company or foreign enterprises to do insurance business in India either on its own or through a joint venture".

Chidambaram, expressing apprehension that it might create problems for Indian insurance companies doing business abroad, suggested an official amendment, "provided that the authority may grant a certificate of registration to carry on insurance business only to an Indian company".

This, however, failed to allay the apprehensions of members including former prime minister Chandra Sekhar, George Fernandes and Murli Manohar Joshi, who said the government was under pressure from foreign powers, particularly the US, and insisted on voting on the amendments.

Earlier, the finance minister had objected to the admissibility of the amendments as he said the Bill did not provide for changing the LIC or GIC acts and only provided for the constitution of the multi-member regulatory authority and opening up of the health insurance sector to a few select Indian companies.

However, the Speaker ruled that when the amendments have been circulated, the question of their admissibility could not be raised.

With Congress in thin strength, as many of its members had already left for Calcutta to attend the plenary session and the party deciding to abstain from voting, an attempt was made to defer the voting on the bill. This was, however, opposed by members including Chandra Sekhar who insisted that once the voting process had started, it could not be stopped.

The Speaker, however, quoted a 1966 precedent when consideration of a Bill was postponed during the final third reading stage. The move met with fierce opposition from members in favour of the amendment who said it should be voted upon ``here and now''.

Leader of the opposition Atal Behari Vajpayee was willing to give government time, though he said the government had not been able to set at rest members' fears about entry of foreign companies into the insurance sector.

The Speaker, however, adjourned the House for an hour saying he could not take a hasty decision and needed more time to decide whether to postpone voting on the issue. After the break, the finance minister came up with his amendment which failed to satisfy the members.

The BJP amendments that made the government retreat were moved by Guman Mal Lodha and Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.