NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 31 With increasingly clear signals that general elections may be less than six months away, the cauldron of Opposition politics — simmering for the past five years — started bubbling with new vigour on New Year’s eve today.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, pursuing her latest ‘‘how to win allies and influence the electorate’’ line, called on neighbour and Lok Janashakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan this evening; CPI leader A.B. Bardhan also met Paswan; Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav met CPI(M) general secretary H.K.S. Surjeet in the morning; while Surjeet firmed up plans to visit Chennai on January 3 to talk to DMK leader K. Karunanidhi. These meetings had a single aim — chasing the elusive Opposition unity.

That any ‘‘unity’’ against the BJP-led alliance was going to be practically impossible was made clear by Mulayam who told Surjeet that he will have nothing to do with Mayawati’s BSP. Surjeet told mediapersons that ‘‘there is no difference of opinion at all’’ on the question of defeating the BJP, but admitted that the SP chief was adamant on not sharing any platform with bete noire Mayawati.

The CPI(M) general secretary also floated the idea of ‘‘two fronts’’ that will ‘‘jointly but separately’’ fight the BJP in the general elections. One front will comprise the Congress and its allies, and the second include the Left and other anti-BJP forces. ‘‘The direction of both fronts will be the same but we will move separately,’’ Surjeet said.

He refused to give a name to either of the two fronts. Asked whether he was talking of the revival of the Third Front, he retorted: ‘‘Where is the Second Front?’’

Surjeet also insisted the question of ‘‘leadership’’ of the secular front did not come up. He added that the issue will be decided after the poll results — it will depend on who gets the maximum number ‘‘besides factors like which force is more active and which has rallied more people”.

On the face of it, Surjeet’s two-front thesis may add to the confusion on who will ally with whom, but it may well be a canny attempt to override a central contradiction — how to take on the might of the BJP-led alliance by squabbling anti-BJP forces.

The contradiction is most evident in the case of Left-Congress relations. While the CPI(M) has identified the BJP as its main adversary at the national level, its main enemy in strongholds of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura is the Congress. Similarly, the ‘‘Janata Parivar’’ led by the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka is the main adversary of the Congress in the state.

The idea of two fronts envisages a loose understanding between disparate parties who can come together against the BJP in a post but not pre-poll situation. While the first of the two fronts, led by the Congress, will comprise Congress and its pre-poll allies (RJD, PDP, NCP, DMK, smaller regional outfits, and possibly the BSP), the second will comprise parties who cannot or do not want to tie up with the Congress in the elections. Apart from the Left parties, the Janata Dal (S), the SP, Lok Janashakti Party, breakaway factions of the BJD and others may form this front.