In a letter to parliamentary affairs minister Madan Lal Khurana, the finance minister said he was ready with the bill and that the parliamentary affairs ministry may seek for him the necessary approval from the speaker to introduce the bill in the Lok Sabha.

Admitting the receipt of the letter, Khurana hinted that the bill may be introduced in the Lok Sabha either next Monday or Tuesday.

The bill has, however, stirred a hornet's nest in the ruling BJP-RSS circles with the sangh affiliate, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, strongly opposing the measure.

Despite the government's declared statement that it would see the bill through this session, SJM bigwigs as also some senior BJP functionaries on Wednesday reiterated that they would oppose the bill.

SJM leaders Dattopant Thengri, S Gurumurty and Murlidhar Rao will address a dharna near Parliament Houseon Thursday. The dharna has been organised by the manch to express its serious opposition to the IRA Bill. According to SJM statement issued earlier, it was opposed to giving 40 per cent equity stake to foreign companies in the country's insurance business.

The IRA Bill was raked up by several BJP members of parliament (MPs) at a meeting of its parliamentary party on Tuesday. They said the IRA Bill should not be passed as it was not in the country's national interest. Among those who opposed the measure included minister of state for HRD, Uma Bharti.

The party tried to set at rest the controversy over the bill on Wednesday by maintaining that the BJP MPs would ultimately fall in line and vote in favour of the measure.

Briefing newspersons, senior party leader and spokesman Kishan Lal Sharma said there would be no problem in passing the bill as all BJP MPs would vote in favour of it. He hinted that the party may issue a whip leaving no room for individual MPs to take any contradictory stand.

BJPsources said the top leadership had intervened to persuade the MPs that the economic reforms initiated in the country six years ago could not be reversed now. The IRA Bill, they pleaded, was part of the reform process.

Apart from the prime minister himself, other leaders who spoke to party MPs on the matter included home minister LK Advani, party chief Kushabhau Thakre and deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Jaswant Singh.

That the SJM was still acting tough about the bill was a measure of concern for the party, according to BJP sources, who believe that a chasm was slowly setting in between the RSS and its political wing, the BJP. In the ultimate analysis, it would be the RSS which would call the shots, these sources argue.

Even so, many BJP MPs are waiting with bated breath as to how the prime minister would solve the tangle. Issuing a whip would mean that the BJP was taking recourse to parliamentary pressure in disregard to political pressure from an influential section.