Lucknow, Dec. 24: Rahul Gandhi today said he was not averse to a Bihar-like Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, echoing a senior Janata Dal United leader.

"Our party workers wanted a pre-poll alliance in Bihar. The same cannot be ruled out in Uttar Pradesh," the Congress vice-president said in Amethi last night.

The Janata Dal United's K.C. Tyagi had indicated on Tuesday that efforts were on for an "alliance" in the Uttar Pradesh polls, speaking after a meeting of the leaders of his party with Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh in Delhi.

"Ajit Singh has always taken up farmers' issues in western Uttar Pradesh. He, Sharad Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar have all worked together in the past in the (erstwhile) Lok Dal and the Janata Dal. The Congress is already with us in Bihar. Obviously, we are trying to form a similar alliance for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections."

In Amethi, his constituency, Rahul responded with only a smile yesterday when asked whether heartland rivals, the ruling Samajwadi Party and the BSP, would come together in such a formation. Tyagi had said it was the responsibility of the two parties' leaders to approach them.

But existing equations suggest the bitterness between Samajwadi boss Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati is so intense that they are unlikely to agree to any seat-sharing. What makes the prospects of such an understanding bleaker are declarations by leaders of both parties that they would field candidates in all 403 Assembly seats in the state.

Also, Mulayam had withdrawn from the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar months before the October elections and fielded candidates in all 243 seats, signalling that he didn't subscribe the idea of a consolidated Opposition against the BJP.