About four years after UPA-I successfully thwarted attempts by its allies to dictate India?s foreign policy, UPA-II was Tuesday forced into a similar situation by its largest constituent, the DMK, which pulled out of the government over its stand on alleged human rights violations against Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Sources said there was no threat to the stability of the government and claimed to have the backing of 283 MPs, including outside support from the SP and the BSP. However, UPA strategists were still making a last-ditch attempt to persuade the DMK.

The DMK?s announcement, government sources said, was a slight deviation from what had transpired Monday between DMK supremo M Karunanidhi and Congress emissaries A K Antony, P Chidambaram and Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The impression the three ministers came back with is that the DMK would limit itself to pulling out its ministers from the government but not withdraw complete support to the UPA. To that extent, the announcement had an element of surprise.

UPA strategists have now pinned their hopes on Karunanidhi?s rider that his party could reconsider its decision if the Centre agrees to pass a resolution in Parliament on war crimes against Tamils and also moves amendments to strengthen the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Although unsure of the DMK?s real intent given their assessment of the dissension in the DMK ? between the group led by Karunanidhi?s son M K Stalin and others ? over pulling out of the UPA, Congress strategists were in the process of preparing a draft resolution on the lines of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s statement to the Congress Parliamentary Party.

The Centre is, however, clear that the resolution must have the support of all parties just like the recent resolution against Pakistan. Here, the BJP has a different take. Unlike the DMK, it?s against a country-specific resolution as it would amount to interference in another country?s internal affairs, which was the logic behind rejecting the Pakistan resolution.

But, for the record, BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said his party would first wait for the government’s official position on this.

The AIADMK, on other hand, sought to muddy the waters more by trashing the idea itself and asserted that all that matters is a strong resolution against Colombo at the UNHRC.

The Samajwadi Party, another key cog in the wheel, has not spelled out its stand but its supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav had taken a nuanced line on this issue in the Lok Sabha recently.

He had recalled that Sri Lanka was the first country to openly back India’s position in the 1962 border conflict with China and in that backdrop, indicated that any issue must be resolved bilaterally rather than effecting international censure.

Further, the Centre has its own red lines for any resolution, be it in Parliament or the UNHRC:

n The term ?genocide? cannot be mentioned as it could open up possibilities of similar resolutions against India, especially on Kashmir and the Northeast. More so, it would be rejected by most countries in the UNHRC.

n A call for an ?international? probe is also unacceptable as it questions the sovereignty of another country. The government is willing to accept the line ?independent and credible? probe as mentioned in the final US draft.

n For the same reason, the government is against the term ?unfettered access? to investigators. A line removed in the final US draft.

For Parliament, sources said, the government is willing to examine a resolution on the lines of the Congress president’s statement today. ?We are anguished by reports of unspeakable atrocities on innocent civilians and children, especially during the last days of conflict in 2009. These reports cannot go uninvestigated. That is why we demand an independent and credible inquiry into the violation of human rights Sri Lanka,? she said at the CPP meet.

Some senior BJP leaders did confide that they could consider a call for an ?independent and credible? probe but only through bilateral channels. All this is congruent with the final US draft resolution at the UNHRC which calls upon the Lankan government to ?initiate credible and independent actions to ensure justice, equity and accountability, and reconciliation for all Sri Lankans?.

Meanwhile, finance minister P Chidambaram asserted that the UPA government faces no threat.

?Let me assure everyone that the stability of the government and the continuation of the government are not an issue. The government is absolutely stable and enjoys majority in the Lok Sabha,? he said.