Congress led UPA government finally managed to win the vote on FDI in multi-brand retail in Lok Shabha, the lower house of the parliament as they had numerical superiority over there. But the government will face the real litmus test in Rajya Sabha, the upper house, where they are even with the BJP led opposition in terms of numbers.

One major factor that contributed to UPA's relatively easy win yesterday was, the  SP and BSP members walking out of Lok Shabha ahead of the voting process. Earlier both the parties played a cat and mouse game with the government and kept them guessing about their stand until the very last moment. SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav described the government’s move as “ anti-farmer.”

Now, the next big thing will happen in Rajya Sabha where UPA is not in majority and for that reason the government may cash on SP, BSP factor over there too. Arun Jaitley ,the opposition leader in Rajya Sabha told reporters about the impending vote and UPA tactics, "The government is unsure of which way the Rajya Sabha vote will go. Therefore, it has no serious intention of allowing the Rajya Sabha conduct its business."  he added.

With the smashing victory yesterday , the government managed to overcome the first hurdle of the road to allow FDI in retail and now it's Rajya Sabha, the final frontier is all set to witness another intense war of words to decide the further course of action regarding the boiling issue.

(AW-Jyotishman)