“We are keeping all our options open. We are in touch with both the BJP and the Congress-SP alliance. Maybe, next week we will decide whether to ally with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance or with the Congress-led UPA,” a RLD leader said. At the same time, he said any tie-ups with the NDA would happen only if things “do not work out” with the UPA.

SP sources, meanwhile, said that they would consider a tie-up with the RLD, only after concluding their seat-sharing talks with the Congress.

“Before a final decision is reached between the two parties (SP and Congress), talking to Ajit Singh may not be in our interest because the Congress may ask us to accommodate RLD from our own quota of seats,” an SP leader said. The RLD has been informally asking for eight Lok Sabha seats and is not keen to settle for less than five.

Despite being ditched by Ajit Singh during the last Assembly elections in May 2007, the SP remains open to an alliance with the RLD.

The SP believes such an arrangement will prevent the division of Muslim votes in western UP districts like Baghpat, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur.

Amid this, state BJP leaders have vehemently opposed to any agreement with the RLD. Led by national vice-president Kalyan Singh, all BJP leaders of Uttar Pradesh, including state president Ramapati Tripathi, Om Prakash Singh and Vinay Katiyar, have registered a strong protest with the party’s central leadership, which is keen on a tie-up with the RLD.

At the BJP national executive meeting in Bangalore, the central leadership reportedly told the UP leaders that they should be ready for a tie-up with RLD in the Lok Sabha elections. State BJP president Ramapati Ram Tripathi, however, refuted this.

“No such thing like an alliance with the RLD was on the agenda of the national executive meeting at Bangalore and I will not comment whether the BJP will go for an alliance with the RLD or not, whenever this issue comes before me I will place my views on the party forum,” Tripathi said.

Privately, however, state BJP leaders regard an alliance with the RLD as more or less a fait accompli that was being thrust by the Central leadership.