NEW DELHI, 25 April — After being paralyzed for seven days over the continuing sectarian violence in Gujarat, the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Indian Parliament) yesterday admitted an opposition motion to debate the issue on May 2.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Krishan Kant allowed the debate to be followed by voting although Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongly opposed it.

His decision came just a day after Lok Sabha (lower house) Deputy Speaker P.M. Sayeed accepted a similar opposition-sponsored motion and fixed a debate on the Gujarat violence, which has claimed over 900 lives since February-end.

While the BJP, which leads India’s ruling coalition, is hopeful of winning the vote in the Lok Sabha even though some of its allies are unhappy with it, the opposition is sure to win in the Rajya Sabha where it has a clear majority.

“There is no grain of truth in the opposition claim that we will lose the vote. I am sure our allies will have no problem in voting with the government,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told reporters.

In the Rajya Sabha, the motion, moved by main opposition Congress party leader Manmohan Singh, reads: “This house expresses its deep anguish over the incidents in Gujarat and asks the center to effectively intervene and provide rehabilitation to those affected in the riots in the state.”

The Lok Sabha, where business could resume Tuesday after six days of rancor, was once again caught in a furor — this time over an opposition MP’s bid to censure Vajpayee.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Raghuvansh Prasad Singh kicked up a storm when he mentioned Vajpayee’s reported comment that Sayeed’s ruling to allow the debate with a vote was “unfortunate” — a comment Vajpayee’s office has denied.

Singh raised the issue when the house assembled at 11:00 a.m. and immediately found support from other opposition MPs from the Congress and the Left parties.

But Sayeed was skeptical of Singh’s notice of breach of privilege against Vajpayee, who the opposition charged with lowering the dignity of the house, and referred to the denial the prime minister’s office issued late Tuesday.

“I have seen the report and I have also seen the denial in newspapers. We have to proceed according to rules. The established convention is that after the information is verified, then the house will decide what is to be done. Please leave it to me,” Sayeed said.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesman V.K. Malhotra disclosed that the Lok Sabha would Monday vote on the national budget 2002-03 following a discussion beginning tomorrow.

That is another issue on which Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who presented the budget Feb. 28, has faced all-round flak, including from his own BJP.

Parliament must pass the budget, which authorizes the government to raise revenue to meet its expenditure, by May 14 for the budgetary provisions to get statutory sanction. Parliament’s current session ends May 17.

But its passage had run into rough weather as Parliament had been paralyzed over the continuing violence in Gujarat.

Sinha has been under pressure to roll back some proposals such as a cut in interest rates on small saving schemes and restoration of tax breaks.