"I am not in the race... the prime ministerial candidate will only be known after the results of the Lok Sabha elections are announced," Yadav told reporters in Lucknow.

"Jab Maharani aa gayi hai to ab aur kaun ayega (when the queen is in the fray, who else will stake the claim," he said while referring to the BSP supremo's ambition of being the next Prime Minister.

Mayawati has made it clear that she would join the third front only if she was projected as its Prime Ministerial candidate.

Refusing to comment on the Left's bonhomie with Mayawati to form a third front, Yadav said he had enjoyed "very good relations" with the Left and would continue to have the same.

"We are still friends," he said while denying that he had any interaction with the Left leaders about the third front. The SP leader said he was not bothered about the formation of the third alternative. "Hum apni mehfil mein baith kar dusro ki baat kyon karein. Hum apni baat kartein hain (why should we discuss about others at our home, we talk about ourselves)," he said.

'We've an understanding with Cong'

Even if a formal alliance fails to come through, the SP still has a "tacit understanding" with the Congress which would continue after the elections as well, party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said on Saturday.

"If Samajwadi Party enters into an electoral alliance with the Congress, there will be nothing like it. But if we do not have an alliance, both the parties still have a tacit understanding," Yadav said.

On whether contesting against each other will affect poll prospects of both the SP and the Congress, Mulayam said the two parties would contest the elections in coordination with each other.

"We (SP-Congress) do not have any differences and our understanding will botch political prospects of the ruling BSP in the Lok Sabha polls", he claimed.

"Contesting elections separately will not have any impact on the understanding we have with Congress. It would continue after elections as well...", he said.

Asked about talks going on with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Yadav said, "it is a routine process".

About his relationship with Kalyan Singh, Yadav said that it was a "friendship of two mass base leaders and we will campaign together."