Lucknow: The fourth front, as it is known, is eyeing seat in UP, Bihar and Jharkhand and are fighting a straight battle against the Congress even though they insist that they are with the UPA.
This is a worry for the Congress as anti-BJP forces are regrouping, within its secular space.
And the Congress is without allies in UP, Bihar and Jharkhand, which account for nearly one fourth of Lok Sabha's 543 seats.
Says RJP president Lalu Yadav: "The Congress is fighting elections only to strengthen its cadre, not to win."
They are out to use each other's appeal among Yadav, Dalit and minority votes. Their pre-election tie up is to battle Nitish Kumar's good governance plank in Bihar and the BSP's social engineering in Uttar Pradesh.
Says LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan: "If the Brahmin doesn't blow the conch, the elephant will not move."
The Congress' concern is will this front back the party in the post-poll scenario, or join the Left-led front, and ask the Congress to support it.
Says SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav: "Mulayam, Lalu and Paswan will always be together and will never go separately."
For the moment, the three seem very much together and seem to realise that their strength, even after the polls, lies in their indivisibility.