The threat comes in the wake of a vitriolic attack by the Congress at the Pachmarhi conclave where it alleged that the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal were the stumbling blocks for the party in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Samajwadi Party leaders Amar Singh and Ramgopal Yadav told media persons that if the Congress failed to withdraw charges levelled against RLM leaders, it would have to pose certain uncomfortable questions to the party. The Congress would have to explain why the minorities became disillusioned with the party, they said.

The RLM could fight communalism in its own way, they said, when asked whether a division of votes would not help the Bharatiya Janata Party in case the RLM and Congress fought against each other.

The statements made by Congress leaders at Pachmarhi were ``unfortunate'' for secular polity and an insult to the RLM leadership. The Congress was confused whereas the RLM was clear that the Vajpayee government had to go, Singh and Yadav said. ``The Congress may target us but we will only aim at the BJP,'' they added.

Turning the tables against the Congress, the RLM leaders said that while they were being described as ``casteist,'' it was actually the Congress which had joined hands with a ``rabidly casteist'' party like the Bahujan Samaj Party.

About the Congress' view that regionalism was a passing phase, they pointed out that the Congress should also realise that it too had been reduced to a regional outfit.