New Delhi, Frustrated with the political developments in the UPA and UNPA, Left and BSP fronts, the BJP has initiated a move to woo smaller parties which are still out of the ambit of either of the formations.

The Prime Ministerial candidate of the NDA and the BJP L K Advani has entrusted senior party leaders with the responsibility of holding negotiations with the small parties like Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh, who has recently snapped his relations with both the UPA and the UNPA-BSP alliances after BSP chief Mayawati refused to accommodate him in the seat sharing for the next general elections.

At the behest of Advani, vice president of the BJP Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday held an hour-long meeting with Singh and discussed him the current political scenario both at the national and Uttar Pradesh levels. Naqvi reportedly offered Singh a seat-sharing arrangement in the state.

The RLD chief is reported to have agreed to enter into an electoral alliance with the BJP but wanted major share of seats in the politically important northern state, which at the initial stage is not suiting BJP. However, the BJP has urged him to come forward for seat-sharing negotiations.

Similarly, another BJP vice president M Venkiah Naidu has been asked to hold talks with some of smaller constituents of the UNPA like AIDMK, AGP and INLD. Arun Jaitley would assist Naidu in talks with the leaders of these parties. Meanwhile, the sources in the INLD and AGP said they have not received any call from the BJP. These two parties, the sources said would not join the BJP-led NDA, as it has been for a long time with the UNPA, which is more suited to their ideologies.

The BJP has planned to contest 350 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats leaving the rest to alliance partners. The party said it would concentrate only on 290 seats from where it had either won or stood second in the last 10 years.

The BJP's decision to contest 250 seats Lok Sabha seats has irked not only its NDA allies but also those who could possibly be its future partners. The NDA constituents have taken a strong exception of the BJP's announcement of contesting 350 seats and concentrating only on 290 seats.

"This displays the arrogance of the BJP. If they want to concentrate only on 290 then why they announced to field candidates on 350 seats. They cannot take us for granted," remarked a senior functionary of the BJD, a key ally of the NDA.

Following the projection of L K Advani as the BJP-NDA's next Prime Ministerial nominee, the BJP also wanted to announce the names of the MPs and has even finalized a handful of nominees but decided to hold the process in view of the vacillating loyalties displayed by some MPs in the July 22 trust vote.

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