New Delhi, July 17: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Shibu Soren sneaked out of Bokaro and arrived secretly in the capital today on a crafty two-timing bargain mission that kept both the UPA and the NDA guessing over which way he would turn.

The JMM, which infamously kept the P.V. Narasimha Rao government alive in exchange for cash in 1993, has five MPs and could decide the fate of the Manmohan Singh government in what is increasingly looking like a close call.

If the situation demands, the UPA could go in for a cabinet shuffle as early as July 19 to accommodate Soren, sources said.

The BJP, more determinedly going for the kill, has opened talks to wean Soren away from the UPA. Negotiating a deal with Soren is believed to have come up during this evening’s NDA meeting where Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, a significant player in Jharkhand, was also present.

Speculation emanating from Ranchi had it that the BJP, and the NDA, was ready to hand chief ministership of Jharkhand to the JMM.

Combined with the JMM’s 17 MLAs and the NDA’s 35, they make for a comfortable majority in the 82-member Jharkhand Assembly. But the BJP has not made up its mind whether to hand over Jharkhand to Soren or to someone else in the JMM.

A glitch does exist: the NDA may not be able to manage a “regime change” in Jharkhand before the trust vote. Even if an NDA-JMM alliance tips the balance in the Jharkhand Assembly overnight, governor Sibte Razi, a Congress appointee, may delay calling a session for a trust vote until the trial of strength in Parliament has happened.

The BJP, though, is still hopeful of bringing round Soren. Party sources argued that most parties were now looking beyond the current Lok Sabha and “immediate” gains with an eye on emerging political alignments for the next polls.

But Soren continues to keep his doors to the Congress open. So much so that Congress leaders were even justifying his possible return to the Union cabinet. “Shibu Soren is a senior leader, an MP and qualified to become a minister,” said AICC spokesman Manish Tiwari.

Soren has openly demanded “one and a half” berths — a cabinet post and a junior ministership — at the Centre.