NEW DELHI, NOV 12: The Jain Commission's interim report has come as a godsend for the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) to deflect the attention of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh.

But while the party plans to go the whole hog on the issue in the coming winter session, it is in a dilemma over how to handle the references to the Dravida Munnetra Kazagagam (DMK) in the report.

BJP sources admit that there are some pitfalls ahead. It sees the DMK as a possible ally in the future and would not like to alienate it. But any discussion on the findings of the report would focus on the DMK's alleged involvement with the LTTE.

So far, BJP leaders have been treading warily, steering clear of commenting on media reports about the Jain Commission's remarks regarding the DMK, arguing that the interim report will have to be tabled in Parliament before they comment on it.

For the BJP, the political gains from creating a rift between the United Front and the Congress are too great to soft pedal the issue because of the DMK.

``The differences between the UF and Congress will not only be exposed but exacerbated when the report is discussed.'' `'Not just that, the internal dissent within the Congress as well as the inter-party tensions in the UF will also be reflected,'' a senior BJP leader observed.

While the Congress will have to perforce target the DMK for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the UF would have to defend its own constituent party.

The DMK, on the other hand, is expected to argue that the LTTE was funded and supported earlier by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv themselves, something the Congress will hotly contest.

In such a scenario, the BJP anticipates that relations between the UF and Congress could reach a point of no return.

``The strategy of the BJP's opponents would be to corner the BJP on Uttar Pradesh so that their own differences over the Jain Commission report are glossed over. We will not allow that,'' a BJP leader says.

Party spokesperson Yashwant Sinha indicated as much today when he described the interim report as a ``national issue''. ``The report has now become a political football to serve personal and party interests,'' he said, ``but it is not an internal Congress matter.''

A former prime minister was assassinated and many national and international agencies were among the suspects; the findings would, therefore, have a bearing on the country's national security strategies, Sinha said.He also charged the Congress with speaking in many voices on the report. He wondered why Congress president Sitaram Kesri had remained silent on the issue in Calcutta yesterday, while, in his absence, CWC members in the Capital, Jitendra Prasada and Arjun Singh (known Kesri baiters) had held official press briefings at the AICC headquarters to vociferously call for the tabling of the report.

The BJP expects such differences to accelerate in the coming days and is waiting with happy anticipation for events to unfold.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.