New Delhi, Jan. 2: The CPM is desperate to keep Mulayam Singh Yadav under its wing, but the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh is not interested in hitching his fortunes with any one of the two fronts proposed by CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet.

Mulayam Singh is sceptical because of his past encounters with the third front. Coupled with this is that the Congress is now inching towards an alliance with his bete noire, the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Mulayam Singh is no longer looking towards the Left for “moral” support and, therefore, need not heed Surjeet’s advice.

Experiences in the past have shown that such fronts end up “helping the BJP”, said the chief minister of the state that holds the key to government formation at the Centre.

“The front partners fought among themselves, failing to reach an understanding on seat sharing. This helped the BJP,” he said.

“This is the reason why I have now decided to give and take support on the basis of issues.”

Mulayam Singh met chief election commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh to bring to his notice irregularities in voters’ lists in a number of constituencies. The Samajwadi Party chief will file his nomination paper on Monday for the byelection polls to the Gannaur Assembly constituency scheduled for January 24.

The Samajwadi leader repeated his stand — not to commit himself to any of the two political alignments — two days after the CPM leader had a one-to-one chat with him and urged him to stay with the anti-NDA forces.

Mulayam Singh was reluctant to cross the bridge to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi, though he maintained that he will meet her whenever it is “necessary”.

Mulayam Singh also clarified that there were no differences between the Samajwadi and the Congress, which is backing his government in Uttar Pradesh, though both were vying for minority votes.

“Sonia Gandhi tried to contact me a few days ago. But I was not here. I wanted to talk to her, but my office said that she herself would call,” said Mulayam Singh. “I would have gone to meet her if I had her permission to do so,” said the Samajwadi leader.

The hitches in the making of two “secular” fronts are becoming more and more evident with the inter-contradictions among the potential partners.

“We have not reached any definite conclusion about any such two fronts,” said CPM politburo member S.R. Pillai.

Responding to questions on Sonia’s telephonic conversation with BSP leader Mayavati, Mulayam Singh said: “The BSP is a corrupt and communal party that has grabbed power in Uttar Pradesh twice with the help of communal forces — even after it had promised to have no truck with the party before the polls.”

From all indications, Mulayam Singh has not abandoned his idea of a third front comprising Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party and the Samata Party of defence minister George Fernandes.

“Fernandes is an old socialist and should be welcomed in a new third front if he quits the NDA,” he said.