History was created when the Women’s Reservation Bill, which seeks to set aside 33 per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures, was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

After outsmarting its opponents and some allies on the landmark Women’s Reservation Bill, Congress crisis managers have begun working on the passage of the Budget and foiling the Opposition’s move to defeat the Manmohan Singh government either by moving cut motions or a no-confidence motion in the coming days.

Driven by electoral compulsions, the strident stance has given way to a softer line. So the Congress can now breathe easy with the Trinamul Congress and the DMK declaring on Tuesday that the coalition, and in turn the government, did not face any threat despite their protests against the increase in fuel prices in the Union Budget.

The railway minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, who is opposed to fuel price hike, on Monday said the Trinamul Congress would remain in the UPA and continue to raise “people’s concerns”, while warning detractors that their efforts to break the alliance with the Congress would not work.