New Delhi, July 8: With the Samajwadi Party rallying behind the Congress-led UPA Government as it goes for a trust vote in Parliament, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is said to have sounded out the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to explore the possibility of joining a new regional grouping now that the UNPA is in tatters.

Minutes after the Left announced its decision to withdraw support, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu told The Indian Express: “I learn that the Samajwadi Party is seeking an alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra and elsewhere besides Uttar Pradesh. The UNPA constituents will have to look at the options available before them.”

Asked if the BSP and the TDP could become the decisive bloc in the new Lok Sabha, Naidu, who sees merit in staying off a BJP-led alliance, said: “Add the Left and other UNPA constituents to that”. With the BJP working on UNPA remnants like the AGP, the INLD and Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Manch, that, however, may be easier said than done.

Sources, however, confirmed that the TDP and the BSP — both nursing ambitions to play a larger role at the Centre — are already discussing Andhra Pradesh and Delhi. The BSP may not bring much in terms of vote share for Naidu — it polled just about 1.5 per cent of the votes in the 2004 state assembly election, managing to get one of their members elected to the Assembly — but as a TDP leader said, “the pro-BSP sentiment would help Naidu mount the biggest challenge of his life in form of Chiranjeevi’s soon-to-be-launched party”.

Lambasting the Congress-led government on the nuclear deal, Naidu wondered why Delhi couldn’t wait for a new administration in the USA. “(President) Bush is the biggest threat to the world. Most of the problems, including in the Muslim world, are of his making. I can’t then understand why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants to serve Bush’s agenda. Why not wait until a new administration is in place in the USA,” said Naidu.

On whether he would like to be seen voting with the BJP against the UPA, he said: “Parties like the Left and the BSP are also there to oppose the deal.”