NEW DELHI, November 18: After clamouring publicly for the immediate tabling of the Jain Commission's interim report and discussions on it, Congress leaders at the Lok Sabha Speaker's all-party meeting today were hunting for excuses to put off a discussion.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, announced that it would table a motion in the Lok Sabha under Rule 184 that the House consider the Jain Commission's interim report and express its dissatisfaction with the Government's follow-up action on it.

Since voting is compulsory under Rule 184, this is expected to put the Congress in a spot: It cannot oppose the motion nor would it want to side with the BJP.

Sources said Congress leaders Sharad Pawar and AR Antulay suggested at the Speaker's meeting that each MP should be given a copy of the report.

Since the report runs into 17 volumes and 5,000-plus pages, the logistics of printing so many copies would ensure a time lag. This was not opposed by the United Front (UF), leading BJP leaders to the conclusion that both parties wanted to buy time so that attention was deflected from the issue.

Strangely, there were also suggestions at the meeting that the discussion should take place after 15 days so that there would be time to study it.

Both ideas were shot down. It has now been decided that several copies of the report would be kept in Parliament library (as is the convention) and that individual copies would be provided to leaders of parties and small groupings. Representatives of the BJP also insisted that the discussion should take place very soon after tabling.

Among those who attended the Speaker's all-party meeting were Atal Behari Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh (BJP), Pawar and Antulay (Congress), Somnath Chatterjee of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), Geeta Mukherjee of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and George Fernandes (Samta Party). The UF was represented by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Srikant Jena, Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Petroleum Minister TR Balu.

At the BJP's parliamentary party executive meeting this morning, it was also decided to table two more motions under Rule 184. One expressing grave dissatisfaction over the conduct of Uttar Pradesh Governor Romesh Bhandari and demanding his recall; and another on the political situation in Assam and the North-East.

The BJP hopes to divert attention from its actions in UP by focussing on the role of the Governor.

BJP leader Jaswant Singh (who has given the notices for the motions on the Jain report and the UP Governor) said today that the BJP parliamentary party executive also discussed electoral reforms, anti-defection law, abuse of Article 356 and non-implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission report.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.