While these irritants held up the seat-sharing talks in Uttar Pradesh, Amar Singh declared on Monday that the SP would have no truck with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh because the latter had poached 4 SP MLAs in the state. Digvijay Singh, however, refuted it on Tuesday, saying that the Congress had no role in it. “They have resigned on their own,” maintained the AICC general secretary. Asked if these SP defectors could be considered for Congress tickets, he replied, “May be.”

The SP had earlier also sought an alliance with the Congress in MP, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and other states. To this proposal, Rahul Gandhi had assured the SP leaders that he would convey it to the Congress president.