NEW DELHI, Nov 17: The BJP is gloating as its shenanigans in Uttar Pradesh have been overshadowed by the political crisis caused by the Jain Commission's interim report.

Earlier, the party feared - quite correctly - that in the coming Parliament session the Congress and United Front would train their guns on the events in UP.

The BJP would have been hard-pressed to credibly explain its actions - splitting other parties, Kalyan Singh's jumbo ministry and the role of the UP Assembly Speaker.

Most importantly, the BSP issue is becoming more and more embarrassing for the BJP.

The 12 BSP MLAs who left the parent party - and are all ministers now - are at the moment defectors. For three weeks, the BJP has been trying to woo more BSP legislators to bring the total number to one-third the BSP's strength so that the whole group can be officially recognised as a separate group. But this has not happened so far. Today, BSP vice president Mayawati moved the Allahabad High Court to get the 12 BSP MLAs disqualified.

The UP Speaker, Kesri Nath Tripathi, has not yet taken a decision on the issue and the BSP is accusing him of being partisan and deliberately delaying the matter. After its failure to form a government in Gujarat by the same means employed in UP, the BJP is preparing strategies to deflect attention from UP and criticism for practising unprincipled politics.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.