The second meeting of the leaders of SP and NCP since Wednesday was confined to only these two parties with a token presence of Samajwadi Janata Party leader and former prime minister Chandrashekhar.

Forward Bloc, which had participated at the last meeting, did not attend today's discussions to launch a viable alternative to the Congress and BJP to fight the Lok Sabha elections.

Briefing reporters after the half-an-hour meeting held at the residence of SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav, respective NCP and SP spokesmen D N Dwivedi and Amar Singh said interaction with parties opposed to both Congress and BJP was on and that a picture would emerge within the next ten days.

Asked if their efforts to cobble together a new front had flopped, Dwivedi said ``these thingscannot be made to order. Political parties are discussing it among themselves and I will not draw such a hasty conclusion.''

Singh said it was too early to term it as a flop.

The two leaders said they were keeping a close watch on the current political developments in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and expected some realignment of forces.

Dwivedi expressed the view that developments in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu would have ``long-term implications for the third front. While the Janata Dal might split in Karnataka, TMC leader G K Moopanar has already decided to float a third front.''

Asked why AIFB leader Debabrata Biswas did not attend the meeting, Amar Singh said he was out of town and claimed that he was in touch with RSP leader Abani Roy.

Today's meeting was also attended by NCP leaders Sharad Pawar and P A Sangma.

Former prime minister and senior Janata Dal leader H D Deve Gowda, who did not attend the last meeting because of `preoccupation', was not present at today's meeting too.

Singh said Gowdawas busy with Karnataka developments.

The CPI-M has indicated that it has nothing to do with the proposed new front and rejected the NCP's `equidistance' theory saying the NCP's distance with BJP is less than that with Congress.