poll shadow? Advani at Renigunta airport in Tirupati on Friday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Jan. 2: The Centre is toying with the idea of nudging Maharashtra and Karnataka towards simultaneous general and Assembly elections, top BJP sources said.

With its ally-ruled Andhra Pradesh almost certainly heading towards a similar situation, the BJP is particularly confident of implementing the proposal in Maharashtra because of its “changing political dynamics”, the sources claimed.

They said the Nationalist Congress Party could consider pulling out of the Congress-led ruling Democratic Front coalition if it is convinced of a more “promising” future with the BJP-led NDA.

Yesterday, Bal Thackeray of the Shiva Sena — a BJP ally — had said he was not averse to Sharad Pawar’s NCP joining the NDA.

The Congress-ruled Karnataka, however, has little elbow space for manoeuvring an early poll, the BJP sources said.

“The only argument we can use is that since Assembly elections are anyway due next September, what is the rationale in holding them separately if the Lok Sabha polls are to be held in April or May,” one of them said.

“What purpose does a four or five month interregnum serve if we are to save time, money and other resources?”

With deputy Prime Minister .K. Advani sustaining the momentum for early general polls, the Centre is considering a short Parliament session in January-end to take votes-on-account on the general budget and the rail budget if an April or May election is decided by then.

Advani said the Centre is considering advancing general polls from October and that NDA convener George Fernandes is “consulting” coalition allies.

The votes-on-account will authorise the Centre to spend from April to June, after which the newly-elected Lok Sabha will present a regular budget.

Finance minister Jaswant Singh and his railway counterpart, Nitish Kumar, are expected to prepare their statements of account between January 15 and 17, the sources said. Once they are through, a 48-hour notice would be required to call a Parliament session to seek the assent of both Houses.

Pawar today returned Thackeray’s compliment, saying he, too, was open to a poll alliance with any party.

“No political party is untouchable. We have three options — to have an electoral alliance with the Congress, an alliance with the Left and other parties, and the third is to join the NDA,” the NCP leader said in Pune. The party’s executive, he added, would take a final decision on January 25.

But the BJP is keenly watching whether Pawar would use the NDA option to extract a favourable seat-sharing deal from the Congress as 48 Lok Sabha seats are at stake in Maharashtra, the sources said.