New Delhi : Congress is likely to put the brakes on the Women's Reservation Bill. Under pressure from allies and supporters, according to reports; the Congress may not bring the bill to the Lok Sabha, till just before the 2014 General Elections.

So the celebrations seen after the Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 9 may not spill over to the Lok Sabha. Despite having a comfortable majority and the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left it could be more difficult for the Government to go ahead with the Bill in the Lok Sabha. The first hurdle is an important ally and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

Mamata refused to allow her MPs to vote for the bill in the Rajya Sabha. More than anything else she is allergic to the Left and cannot tolerate the camaraderie of the Left and the Congress on the Women's Reservation Bill. "Soniaji (Congress President Sonia Gandhi) was very kind to call me. We will discuss the matter before the Bill is presented in the Lok Sabha," said Mamata, whose party has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha. Then it is the Yadav trio of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Sharad Yadav, who taken together account for 46 MPs.

With Mulayam's Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad threatening to withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance Government and the Finance Bill yet to be passed in the Lok Sabha, the UPA managers would prefer a go slow for now. "We would certainly want (to get the Bill passed) but we would also like to talk to everybody," said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal. With the mood in the Lok Sabha not conducive, sources say the Government would buy time before presenting the Bill in the House, which may stretch to as late as 2014, just before the next Lok Sabha elections