Mulayam Singh after reportedly proposing a pre-poll alliance in Uttar Pradesh later refused.
Uttar Pradesh will be jointly contested by the parties of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Ajit Singh, who is influential in the western part of the state.
Leaders from both parties said that Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose Samajwadi Party governs Uttar Pradesh, had originally pitched a collaboration, but then let them down by stating he would accept only mergers, not partnerships.
"This alliance is formed to checkmate the BJP," said KC Tyagi of the Janata Dal United or JDU which is the Bihar Chief Minister's party. "We're not desperate for a tie up with either of these two," he said, clubbing the Samajwadi Party with its rival, Dalit icon Mayawati.
Last year, it was an amalgam of parties that allowed the re-election of Nitish Kumar for a third back-to-back term as Chief Minister of Bihar. Dubbed 'The Grand Alliance', it originally included Mulayam Singh, who, however, opted out claiming that his party was being given too few seats to contest. An error of judgement, as it turned out, because the Samajwadi Party did not win a single constituency.
To remain in power in Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh called in September for a coalition, but the response was lethargic. A meeting with Prashant Kishor, hired by the Congress as its election strategist, irritated the party's top bosses, who feel that before exploring a collaboration, Mulayam Singh must rectify a raging family dispute.
Ajit Singh, who heads the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), said there was no attempt yet to persuade the Congress to join the new team.
Much of last month was spent by Mulayam Singh throwing shade at his son, Akhilesh, who is the Chief Minister and has low tolerance for uncle Shivpal, who is Mulayam's closest aide. At a party meeting, the three Yadavs hurtled recriminations and suspicions about each other into the open. However, when Akhilesh began his campaign in a considerably souped-up Mercedes, the trio accrued on the same stage to suggest differences had been resolved.
A celebration in Lucknow held to mark the 25th anniversary of the Samajwadi Party was seen as a measure of other parties' interest in a coalition. Ajit Singh attended, Nitish Kumar did not; nor did the Congress.
Uttar Pradesh's legislature has 403 members. In the last state election in 2012, Nitish Kumar's party could not win a single seat, Ajit Singh won nine.