Leaders of Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal held long parleys in Lucknow on Friday to thrash out a strategy for puttiong up a united front against the BJP in Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur Assembly bypolls.

Leaders of both parties evaded the media on whether any decision was taken about inalising candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats going to bypolls.

RLD vice president Jayant Chaudhary arrived in Lucknow on Friday morning and was closeted with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav for over two hours before leaving for Delhi.

Chaudhary is likely to meet Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati in Delhi to finalise candidates for the two bypolls.

Samajwadi Party sources said it was a `courtesy meeting. “Both leaders held talks for strengthening opposition unity as the defeat of the BJP in the bypolls would send a very strong message to the electorate ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” sources said.

“The SP chief suggested Chaudhary to meet the BSP chief in Delhi to reach at a broad consensus on fielding candidates for both seats,’’said a SP leader.

Samajwadi Party MLC and close aide of Akhilesh Yadav, Sunil Singh Sajan said that the party would declare its own candidate for Kairana bypolls. He said that the decision was taken at a meeting called by party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday.

It is being viewed as a signal to RLD to take a step backwards and not be adamant on fielding Jayant Chaudhary, son of RLD chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh for the bypoll.

Sajan rubbished the impression in political circles that the SP would not field a candidate and instead support the RLD nominee. He said that the SP was a natural claimant to the seat as they came a aclose second in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

“Samajwadi Party is the eligible claimant. Right now the candidate has not been decided but it will be decided soon by the party brass,” he said.

“At present the SP and the BSP are in a mutual understanding and some BJP people are spreading canards that there is no alliance. I figure they are scared by their bypoll defeats in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats. We are in firm alliance with the BSP,” he added.

In a not-so-subtle hint to RLD to withdraw its candidate, Sajan said that if other parties were really interested in defeating the BJP or ‘saving the Constitution’, then they would support the SP candidate.

Meanwhile, RLD spokesman Anil Dube said that Jayant Chaudhary was not here to discuss his own candidature either from Kairana or Noorpur but to discuss larger issues relating to the united front against the BJP and further strengthen it which began from bypolls to Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats in March last.’’

“The public in Kairana wants Chaudhary to contest and if the SP supports him, then we will certainly defeat the BJP. A final call will be taken on a joint candidate by the party brass,” said state RLD chief Masood Ahmed.

Kairana Lok Sabha seat has around 17 lakh voters which include around 3 lakh Muslims, 4 lakh Backward Castes (Jat, Gujjar, Saini, Kashyap, Prajapati and others) and about 1.5 lakh Jatavs (Dalits).