New Delhi : Rajya Sabha's endorsement of the women's reservation bill may have cleared a big hurdle for the landmark legislation but it looks set to run into a wall of resistance in the Lok Sabha, with an anti-quota insurrection raging in the BJP.

Just a day after it helped the government pass the bill in the teeth of resistance from SP-RJD, BJP ranks were seething with anger over the leadership's decision. The resentment stems from diverse reasons: from opposition to quota to unease over the way marshals were used to evict the RS members who sought to block the bill. Then, there is also a strong feeling that quota bill was just a device to split the Opposition's ranks just when it appeared to be coming together to corner the government on price rise and "concessions" to the US, and that the BJP walked into the trap.

Together, the diverse strands of thinking have fused into a powerful sentiment threatening to raise a tempest that the leadership may have real trouble navigating. The Bill is likely to be brought to Lok Sabha after April 12 when Parliament comes back from almost a month-long recess, beginning March 15. The final decision on the time-table is to be taken by floor leaders on Friday, but with just one working day available -which is scheduled to be utilised for clearing financial bills and moving the bill to replace an ordinance on monuments - there is little likelihood of the bill being tabled before the recess.

BJP's support is critical for the passage of the constitutional amendment bill required to be adopted by a two-thirds majority in the House. Even if the leadership manages to bring the ranks around, the MPs have vowed not to support the use of marshals in Rajya Sabha: an insistence that can allow the Yadav troika of Mulayam Singh, Sharad and Lalu to keep the Lok Sabha from taking up the bill so long as they wish.

Lok Sabha saw the resentment, bubbling since the quota bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha on March 8, hit the surface with full force. Former Union minister Hukumdeo Narain Yadav reflected the sentiments of quota opponents on saffron benches saying that he would defy any whip to support the bill even at the cost of losing his membership. The veteran member declared in the presence of former party president Rajnath Singh and other senior leaders that no cost could deter him since supporting the bill would equal signing his own death warrant. "I have to choose between suicide and martyrdom, I will prefer to die a martyr," the former minister declared defiantly, according to his colleagues present.

That there should be no whip was argued equally powerfully by senior MP Yashwant Sinha, although for a different reason. The former foreign minister, supported by Yadav and others, said the party should not have acquiesced to the use of marshals. Sinha also referred to the allegation being vigorously spread by JD (U), RJD and SP leaders that marshals were actually not from among Rajya Sabha's watch and ward staff but were drawn from CISF. "If this is true, what we saw was not marshal law but martial law in the upper House," a senior BJP MP quoted Sinha as saying.