Sources within the party say that it was this premise which led the BSP to reject advances from the Congress for an electoral alliance in the state even when the latter was undertsood to have offered the former as many as 70 of the total 85 seats in the state and keep only 15 for itself.

According to senior BSP leader and former Union Minister Arif Mohammad Khan, an alliance with the Congress would not have benefitted the BSP much. On the contrary it would have led to the transfer of whatever votes the Congress commanded among the upper castes to the BJP and a further consolidation of the latter's vote bank.

``For a party (Congress) which has already lost its traditional vote bank of Dalits and OBCs to the BSP andthe SP and its upper caste vote to the BJP, there are few takers for an electoral alliance in the state,'' Arif told The Indian Express.

A beleaguered Congress, in its desperation to forge an alliance with the BSP, had initially offered 65 seats to the party and contest the remaining 20. But when the BSP showed little response, the Congress is learnt to have agreed to further increase the seat share to 70. But talks failed after BSP leader Mayawati decided that the party would go it alone in the state as it had during the last Lok Sabha elections.

In the caste-based polarisation of politics in UP, the BSP had got 22 per cent of the vote share in last year's Lok Sabha polls -- mainly from Dalits and certain sections of the most backward classes -- although it managed to win only four seats. It was the Muslim votes which, however, tilted the balance in favour of the Samajwadi Party, which took 20 seats in the state last year.

With Muslims comprising 18 per cent of the state's voter population, theBSP feels if a sizeable section of the Muslim voters cross over, then the party's vote share will register a perceptible increase which in turn can increase its seat tally.

``It all depends on which way the Muslim votes go...if they consolidate with us in order to defeat the BJP, then the results of the elections could be totally different,'' says Arif, who is contesting for the sixth consecutive time from the eastern UP constituency of Bahraich.

It is with this in mind that the BSP has been aggressively wooing the Muslims in the state by holding Mulayam responsible for the continuance of the BJP in power and failure to form an alternate government at the Centre. The BSP has put up as many as 17 Muslim candidates in the state, apart from 10 belonging to the upper castes. For the rest of the seats, it has put up 38 candidates belonging to OBCs. From the Dalit community, it has 20 candidates.