For over a week, the Congress has been working on him to overcome his objections. Stalwart after stalwart went into action. First, Arjun Singh tried and failed. Then, Sharad Pawar. Finally, after Wednesday night's dramatic meeting where Mulayam said a clear ``no'' to the Congress plan, Madhavrao Scindia was called out.

Scindia met him in the early hours of the morning and managed to persuade the SP supremo to meet Sonia Gandhi again at 7 pm on Thursday. The Congress party's hopes soared. Only to dip when Mulayam did a no show at 10, Janpath. He sent word later that he would come in the morning and Congress circlesrippled again with optimism.

But before morning came, Mulayam had become incommunicado. His mobile was switched off. He was not answering the phone. He refused to talk even to Laloo Prasad Yadav. In the wee hours of the morning, the Congress leadership realised that something was wrong.

A couple of hours before Mulayam went to Rashtrapati Bhavan, an intermediary brought the bad news to 10, Janpath -- a copy of his letter to the President ruling out support to either the Congress or the BJP. The letter blamed both the Congress and the BJP for the current political turmoil in the country.

Both have always been against the interest of the Dalits, the minorities and the backward classes, it said. ``In such circumstances, the SP cannot support any of these parties in the formation of an alternative government,'' the letter stated.

For the first time in many weeks, Mulayam refused to meet the press today. Instead, he fielded his general secretaries, Amar Singh and Azam Khan, whose vitriolic comments againstthe Congress reflected the resentment in Samajwadi circles over their plight.

Both the general secretaries left no stone unturned in criticising the Congress for taking a ``unilateral'' decision on the formation of an alternative Government and said that the Congress had the ``dubious'' record of pulling down a host of non-Congress governments including that of Charan Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Deve Gowda and Gujral.

But there was a defensive note too. Singh insisted that the SP should not be held responsible for the current crisis. ``The SP has only created an atmosphere. The Vajpayee Government was brought down primarily by the AIADMK and its leader J Jayalalitha,'' he said.

He reiterated the demand for a Third Front-led coalition but scotched speculation that Mulayam was pitching for himself as leader of such a government. ``Mulayam Singh is not an aspirant for the post. If somebody from the Third Front emerges as Prime Minister, the party will support him,'' Singh said.

But he did make oneconcession. ``We leave (the choice of the leader) to the Congress because the arithmetic of Lok Sabha is such that we cannot impose our view,'' he remarked.