The government was on Wednesday helped by several regional parties to nudge the Congress to drop its insistence that Rajya Sabha take up a private members Bill on providing a special package for Andhra Pradesh. This, coupled with government’s backchannel talks with Congress leaders, led to a truce that not only allowed the House to transact normal business after two days of Congress disruptions but also take up the contentious compensatory afforestation Bill.

The rapprochement came about after Chairman Hamid Ansari called an all-party meeting. Senior Congress leaders relented ...