National-level leaders of the three parties are to address separate rallies on Saturday, when Atal Behari Vajpayee is to start the BJP campaign at the Chhatrasal stadium.

Talks are on between the BSP and the Congress. ``We do not mind an alliance with the Congress. If we fight on our own, it is the BJP who is going to gain. The exact number of seats is yet to be decided,'' said Chowdhury Phulcand, president, state BSP.

This year after mobilising work in some of the dalit and unauthorised areas like Badli, Najafgarh and Adarshnagar, they seem to be the hot favourite for the Congress. They also have a strong hold over the 13 reserved seats.

The BSP is likely to contest 20 seats and will kick-off its campaign after a massive show of strength at Ramlila grounds on October 24. The rally will be addressed by party supremos Kanshi Ram and Mayawati.

The Samajwadi Party who has been an alliance partner with the Congress on earlier occasions in Maharashtra and Delhi thinks of it as a `one way traffic'. Though, this is contradictory to their commitment of driving away the BJP and bringing back the secular forces, they seem `once bitten twice shy'.

Hurt by some scathing remarks of Salman Khurshid about their leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party leaders say that they will consider if the Congress approaches them. ``We are not going to them after our bad experience in the past. We do not go on criticising their leader Sonia Gandhi, so why should they,'' said a senior party leader.

Even the almost-finished Janata Dal whose three MLAs out of four had defected to the Congress, says that talks are on with the Congress. ``After our rally, it will become clearer. For now we are fielding our candidates on 50 seats,'' said Shoab Iqbal, a JD MLA.

Tomorrow they are organising a rally at the Chhatrasal stadium with leaders like Dave Gowda, Chandra Shekhar and I.K. Gujaral stirring the passions of the minorities and the dalit settled in the east Delhi and outer Delhi.

The National Akali Dal, a small Sikh outfit, also announced at a press conference today, that four members from Akali Dal (Badal) had joined them. They would be contesting at least 10 seats. Though their main demand is bringing the 1984 riots culprits to task, they are open to talks with the Congress, if the guilty are kept out of the party.

The Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha (RLM) would be fielding their candidates from 17 seats and have for now ruled out an alliance with the Congress completely. Their leaders Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav would be meeting soon to discuss exact modalities of seats.

The AICC is quiet for the moment now on the issue as a senior party leader said that the party will be approaching regional parties for seat-sharing arrangements. Details would only be available later.