Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are keeping a keen eye on the developments within the BJP and Congress so as to poach rebels from the mainstream parties.

Although the BSP has already released its list of candidates for all 90 seats, state president Dauram Ratnakar has indicated that the party is open to replacing any of them in the event of the BSP winning over a suitable candidate. “A large number of BJP and Congress leaders are in touch with us”, said Ratnakar. The NCP, on the other hand, has no other option other than to rope in rebels from the Congress, which is apparently not willing to forge any state-level alliance with Sharad Pawar’s party. State NCP president Novil Kumar Verma openly stated that his party would field its candidates in about 40 seats if the Congress-NCP poll alliance did not materialise. “Our doors are open for Congress rebels,” he added.

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