Advani (top), Rajnath

New Delhi, July 4: The BJP has been left stumped by the sight of the UPA government’s deepest crisis delivering one of the country’s most potent political forces in its lap.

The turn of events is painful on two counts for the BJP leadership, which had failed to foresee the Samajwadi Party’s spectacular somersault.

One, this allows the Congress to call an election at a time of its choice. Two, it adds to the ruling combine’s already impressive kitty of allies.

The shock comes at a time the BJP’s own efforts to woo new allies have drawn a blank. While the Telugu Desam Party has shown a Leftward tilt, Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee have stayed elusive. Even the smaller parties like Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal have proved difficult to woo.

Now the Congress has pulled off a coup in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh by winning over a bitter enemy at a time, ironically, L.K. Advani’s subtle overtures to Mayavati have evoked angry reactions from senior colleagues.

Advani, sources say, firmly believes that the BJP should keep a line of communication open with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) but has not been able to convince his party.

Apart from party president Rajnath Singh, senior leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi, Vinay Katiyar, Kalraj Mishra and Kalyan Singh have refused to see the compulsions of national politics.

In the face of such strong resistance, Advani has abandoned his soft line on Mayavati. But a member of his core group said: “National politics cannot be held hostage to state politics. We know the BJP will stand to lose in Uttar Pradesh if we drop hints of sympathy for Mayavati, but can we ignore the fact that the Samajwadi and the BSP will win most seats in the state? If the Samajwadi has gone to the Congress, the BJP cannot be apathetic to the BSP.”

The leaders opposed to Mayavati, however, want such considerations to come into play only at the post-poll stage.

The BJP, however, is shocked by Mulayam’s about-turn. Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad today issued a statement about “political opportunism at its worst” that recalled Mulayam’s role in preventing Sonia Gandhi from becoming the Prime Minister in 1999.

What has annoyed the BJP the most is that the Samajwadis have struck their political deal in the name of fighting the communal forces.

“The BJP strongly condemns the language — ‘enemy number 1’ — employed by some Samajwadi leaders to justify their opportunism,” Prasad said.

The party announced more rallies over the Amarnath land controversy. Advani will lead the Mumbai rally on July 11; Rajnath the Bhopal rally on July 8; Joshi will be in Chennai on July 8 and in Varanasi on July 11; M. Venkaiah Naidu in Hyderabad on July 7 and in Jaipur on July 9; Sushma Swaraj in Hardwar on July 10 and Arun Jaitley in Jammu on July 6.