he meeting came after reports that the SP was pressuring the Congress to finalise the seat-sharing arrangements in Uttar Pradesh. It is believed that a pre-poll alliance was a part of the deal the Congress had reached with the SP to secure its support during the recent trust vote Parliament.

But the SP now is alleging that the ruling party is "unnecessarily delaying" the pact. Singh said he conveyed this to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last Friday.

"The seat-sharing talks are making no headway. There is no formal talk. I met the prime minister and Soniaji the day before yesterday and I have said that it is being unnecessarily delayed," said Singh.

Singh feels that as other parties, like the Bahujan Samaj Party and Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal have already finalised their fronts, the Congress and the SP should also act quickly.

"We are lagging behind...Let us not waste time. I have communicated this to Soniaji and to Manmohan Singhji and also to Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel," he said.

Besides the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, the SP favours tie-ups in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.