With more inputs coming after the third phase of the UP polls, it appears that the voters would make their choices to caste and community considerations and which has all but indicated that the fight is between the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party with the BJP possibly coming third and the Congress not far behind in fourth place. That reading by some poll surveys only portrays the sentiments of those whose opinions were surveyed. However, the BSP cannot be written off yet as Mayawati still has something up her sleeve. Whether muslims will desert Mayawati and return back to the SP is debatable but the Dalit supremo has not been idle all these months. She has set up a large number (a little over 100) of muslim candidates, the highest among other political parties. She also continues to hold sway over the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and Dalits even if her Dalit vote bank may suffer some erosion. Both the Samajwadi Party and Congress are fighting for the muslim vote bank and therefore, the quota issue has raised some controversies as much as the Ram Mandir issue of the BJP. In the current assembly polls in UP, the BSP already has a chief ministerial candidate in current incumbent Mayawati while president of the SP Akhilesh Yadav, who is the new avatar and chief campaigner of the party, has made it clear that his father Mulayam Singh Yadav is the party candidate for chief minister. The BJP has not projected anyone though the party hopes Uma Bharti, former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh who recently rejoined the party, would be able to deliver the OBC votes and in case the BJP is able to cobble a coalition, would in all likelihood, be the party’s chief ministerial candidate. As for the Congress, there seems to be not even an indication as to who would be the party’s chief ministerial candidate, in case it is able to win enough seats and forge a post-poll coalition. On that count, the Congress and perhaps the BJP, seem unsure of who would head any government if either of are able to form a coalition. Interestingly, the Congress has said many times, that it would not form any post-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party and if it cannot form the government, would prefer to sit in the opposition. On its part, the Samajwadi Party has not ruled out any post-poll alliance with the Congress or even supporting the party when needed. Whether the Congress is cent percent sure that it would have that much room and luxury of playing hard to get in the post-poll scenario remains to be seen with the fifth phase of polling yet to take place. Otherwise also, the much talked about next generation prime minister from the Congress-Rahul Gandhi- has unfortunately shown he still has some distance to go to be what it takes. During his election campaign, Rahul   ridiculed the Samajwadi Party and the BSP by symbolically tearing their election manifestos. The point is that Rahul ought to realize, that in the post poll scenario, if the Congress wins hardly 50 seats, it will not be able to head any coalition. Having vowed not to form a coalition with the Samajwadi Party nor extend outside support, in a post-poll scenario, if the Congress cannot form a government, Rahul appears to have almost burned the bridge. He ought to have been aware that in case the Samajwadi Party is able to form a government without Congress support, the fate of the UPA at the Centre would be in serious jeopardy. With Mamata repeatedly renewing her attack and further widening the chasm, the Congress has to bank on the Samajwadi Party in case the stormy petrel from Bengal decides to pull out of the UPA or when the Congress says “enough is enough”. However, by repeatedly attacking the Samajwadi Party in the UP elections and dismissing any tie-up with the latter, the Congress seems to be asking for trouble to add to its already cup full of woes.