NEW DELHI, Dec 10: Undeterred by the rebuff handed out by the other constituents of the United Front in Monday's core committee meeting, the Samajwadi Party is going ahead with its plans to the thwart the designs of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

SP general secretary Amar Singh has reiterated what his party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had been maintaining all these days -- that the Congress was a lesser evil than the BJP. ``We will not do anything that goes on to help the BJP at the cost of the Congress,'' he said, adding, ``But, at the same time, we'll not let the Congress grow at the cost of the UF.''

When asked about the possibility of a tie-up with the BSP in UP, he remarked:``Unfortunately, we're not a prospective groom in the `swayamvar' being held by by the party.'' Elaborating further, he said that his party's stand Kanshi Ram's outfit remains the same. Referring to the blatantly opportunistic postures adopted the party supremo at the tea-party held yesterday, he asked: ``Can anyone vouch for the stand the BSP will take in the post-election scenario ?'' Maintaining that it was only Mulayam who had a consistent record in fighting the communal forces, Singh pointed out that the SP was capable of taking on the BJP alone, without seeking anyone's help. The SP general secretary's observations are more or less in conformity with the line taken by his party chief in Monday evening's core committee meeting.

The meeting, which lasted over three hours, saw Mulayam putting up a spirited defence of the stand he had been advocating in the past few weeks. He is also learnt to have questioned the propriety of Prime Minister I K Gujral attending the tea-party hosted yesterday by BSP supremo Kanshi Ram.``The UF leaders have been maintaining that if the BJP was to be fought, it was only through me,'' he is said to have remarked, ``So what is the need to prop up the BSP.''