Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday made it clear that if there is no consensus in favour of the Women's Reservation Bill (fixing 33% of the seats in Parliament for women), the government would be left with no option but to use its majority to get the bill passed by Parliament.

He, however, granted some more time to Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to try and build a consensus.

"I've been trying to build a consensus on this issue for the past several years. But democracy is run on the basis of a majority, and if a consensus eludes this issue, we (the government) will have to get it passed by a majority vote," Vajpayee told an all-party meeting in Parliament, convened by him to discuss the issue.

Giving details of the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said, "While some support the bill in its existing form, others favour adopting the recommendation of the Chief Election Commission that reservations for women should be made at the party level."

Leaders of prominent NDA allies, including the JD-U, Samata Party, PMK and the TDP, were conspicuous by their absence.

At the meet, RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav sought more time to discuss the bill while Mulayam Singh Yadav advocated reservations through the party as recommended by the CEC, Swaraj said.

Laloo Yadav insisted that the reservation issue should not be settled by majority voting. Mulayam Singh said he would evolve a consensus by the next session after talking to the Congress and Left Front.

He also wanted further discussion on the issue of percentage if there was an agreement on accepting the recommendations of the CEC.

Accepting his request, the prime minister said, "When I have spent six years on this, I can wait some more."

However, Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi was not in favour of more meetings on this issue.

Later, she told newspersons, "There is no change in our stand. We support the bill, but three to four parties are opposing it and some even stayed away from today's meeting. I think the prime minister would be talking to them."

Among those favourably inclined towards the bill, Swaraj said the Congress and Left parties supported the bill in its present form while the Shiv Sena and the Shiromani Akali Dal favoured adopting the CEC's recommendations.