To the BJP's satisfaction, all its allies voted for the resolution except the National Conference which abstained. It was the Telugu Desam Party with its 11 MPs that made it smooth sailing. But the Government's worries are far from over. Even though they voted for the motion, the Akali Dal and the TDP said they were against Article 356 but were nevertheless helping out to save the Government.

Akali Dal's Prem Singh Chandumajra went a step ahead when he openly criticised the Governement for clamping President's rule in Bihar. ``It has done it through devious and foul means,'' he said to the surprise of several Opposition members who expected him to distance himself from theGovernment, but not so harshly. ``We are supporting the motion with a heavy heart,'' he added for good measure.

While the TDP, in Hyderabad, suggested that it was supporting the Government's resolution ``reluctantly,'' the party's leader in the Lok Sabha, Yerra Naidu, held that Bihar's was a fit case for dismissal. Naidu's argument: ``After President (Narayanan) returned the first Central Government's recommendation (for sacking Rabri Devi's Government), several warnings were issued to the State Government. But the murders of Dalits continued.'' Naidu also said that the Congress's opposition was a way to gain power through the ``back door'' and his party was opposed to this.Congress's Sushil Kumar Shinde put claimed the BJP was shedding crocodile tears for the cause of Dalits. He cited the 1992 massacre of 12 Dalits in Rajasthan during the BJP's rule there. ``What did the party do then?'' he asked.

But in the end, it was the blistering attack by Union Home Minister L K Advani just before the motion wasput to vote that angered several Congress MPs and left them groping for an answer. ``The Congress's stand on the issue,'' said Advani while wrapping up the over 12-hour-long debate on the motion, ``is of rank hypocrisy. Normally, opportunism is for self-gain. But what the Congress has done is that it has committed political suicide.''Advani said the Congress should rethink its stand, if not in the interests of Bihar or the country but for its own. ``What do you want to gain by your move? Bring back the same RJD Government?'' Sharad Pawar, leader of the opposition in the House, merely shook his head vigorously, making it clear that there was no going back on the party's decision. Seconds later, the motion was put through the test of numbers.