The poor show is not only set to seriously diminish its bargaining power with the Congress — a prospect that the party will not relish in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections — but it has also confirmed that, unlike bete noire Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, it continues to be a largely regional party.

The SP had fielded 187 candidates in Madhya Pradesh, 67 in Rajasthan, 15 in Delhi and 27 in Chhattisgarh. It won one seat in Madhya Pradesh and another in Rajasthan, failing to open its account in both Delhi and Chhattisgarh.

This is even a decline from the party’s performance in the last Assembly elections in these states, when the SP had won seven seats in Madhya Pradesh.

UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi rubbed salt in the SP’s wounds on Monday, acknowledging that the power balance between the allies had shifted. “The Assembly results have put the Congress in a strong position as far as an alliance with the SP for the Lok Sabha polls is concerned,” she said.

However, SP general secretary Amar Singh tried to put the blame on the Congress for the party’s poor performance, especially Digvijay Singh. “What the Congress is demanding from the SP for the Lok Sabha elections in UP (existing seats, plus those where its candidates were second in the previous Lok Sabha polls), we demanded the same of the Congress in the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, which the Congress refused,” he said.

Amar Singh also regretted that the two parties had failed to campaign jointly, claiming that this would have made a difference. “The time has come for the Congress to decide what it wants,” he said. “Does it want to stop the BJP-BSP or is it aiming to finish the SP?”

The SP leader also claimed that the Congress would be the biggest loser if the same factors played out in the Lok Sabha elections. The SP would get a minimum of 25 Lok Sabha seats from UP, he said, the BSP would get a maximum of 50, but the Congress just three to four at the most. “In Uttar Pradesh, the SP is more vibrant that the Congress,” Amar Singh said.

The SP is also hopeful that the alliance with the Congress would continue, pointing out that the party had helped the UPA Government survive at the time of the nuclear deal crisis.